The Basciu-Deiana house, built in the 19th century, is among the largest Campidanese houses in Quartu. Since the late 1980s it has been assigned as scout headquarters by the Parish of St. Helena, following a bequest in the will of Mrs. Innocenza Deiana, who wanted it designated for youth and their activities. The house, built entirely of ladiri (Sardinian bricks), while in need of several renovations, shows clear signs of remodeling that has taken place over the past two decades, although it has not changed its original appearance. Looking at it from the street, we find two entrances: the first is the one still used today, and was at the time the entrance for the wagons; further on, however, we see the sign of another entrance on the wall, again in the shape of an arch; that was the entrance to the house, reserved for people, and which opened inside with a sitting room. The first entrance has a marble slab shaped for the entrance of the wagons; upon entering we find ourselves on Procciu with the original cobblestones and two channels for the passage of wagons and the flow of water, in fact, they turn out to be slightly downhill for that purpose. At the end of the entrance, a kerbstone is noted on the left, placed at the edge to protect the wagons in the curve to enter the courtyard. Arranged on two levels, the house has on the ground floor a large courtyard overlooked by the hallway, sa lolla, which provides light to the rooms, mostly blind as is customary in Campidanese houses. The rooms in the corridor are two bedrooms (the second and last on the far left) and two living rooms. The floors, all original, are made of terracotta tiles while the walls are made of ladiri, (in some places the mud used in construction is clearly visible). Plaster decorations are visible around the window arches in the rooms, and in the first room of the corridor there is still the fresco that graced the ceiling. It can be seen that the second and third rooms are connected to each other by a passageway (now covered by a panel), this is a feature of Campidanese houses, also found on the upper floor, which allowed the inhabitants of the house, in case of danger or the arrival of thieves, to move from one room to another without going out into the lolla and thus be able to escape or take the attackers by surprise. Opposite the second entrance, we find other rooms: facing the corridor, at the far right, is a large room connected with a smaller one. The first one corresponds to the dining room of the house, while the smaller one should be the kitchen. Further down we find another room, which internally still has a fireplace; this too is supposed to be a kitchen, used mostly for bread-making. In fact, on the outside, you can see the typical Sardinian oven, indented precisely in this room. Inside we find a household cupboard, where all the kitchen utensils were stored. Next to this room there is one built from scratch, which housed the 19th century wagon used for the procession of St. Helen. Next to the two kitchens, in the courtyard, is the freshwater well, used by the owners but now disused. On the right side of the courtyard, opposite the entrance for the wagons, where the pine tree now stands, was the house’s bathroom, and you can still make out its floor tiles. Immediately afterwards we find the stables, the mangers of which still remain, and further down we find the large warehouse, whose floor was made of rammed earth and which has large circular openings at the top for ventilation. It was used for collecting food and wine barrels, and there is an anecdote about the barrels that Mrs. Deiana’s neighbor had drilled a hole in the long wall of the warehouse and then carried all the barrels away. Next to the large warehouse is another one, probably used for flour. Narrow, steep stairs lead to the upper floor, which is thought to have been used to house bedrooms, perhaps for guests, or as additional storage. This floor has a wooden floor, as originally, while one room is paved with stone tile. The windows in the rooms still present the original structure and shutters. We then move to the upper corridor that turns out to be exactly overlapping sa lolla, from the beams that are on the ceiling sprout nails, which were used to hang work tools for bread and food that had to be stored. In the room at the back is another fireplace, hence the conclusion that it was a room intended for guests; this appears to be connected by a small door to the adjacent room. The roof, held up by unique juniper arches (which can be seen in the room at the back and the one connected to it), was renovated in the early 1990s by replacing the reeds with boards but reusing the same juniper shingles and boards.
