The water supply to carry out various domestic and work activities was provided among a number of sources in the village, most notably the Fonte de S’enu, today’s Funtana.
“On the foot of a verdant hill with a gentle slope there is the fonte de S’enu; writes Agostino Arthemalle, an engineer of the Civil Engineers of Sassari, in an 1848 memoir- it faces north and is almost circled on three sides by mountains made for cultivation and rich in springs to the summit, as is that of Fissula.”
Around the 1840s, due to recurring droughts, vein detour , and the ruinous state of the cistern, a water emergency arose, as the spring was no longer able to guarantee a sufficient water supply for the population, then consisting of 4600 inhabitants.
The emergency immediately translated into social discomfort for the latter, who had to go to sources outside the town and were forced to stand in long lines for the remaining urban sources, thus causing continuous fights that even led to the intervention of the Carabinieri.
Thus the search for funds to overcome this crisis began.
Since the economic crisis of the population did not allow for requesting funds from the population, it was thought to:
- draw on funds for the construction of the Municipal Cemetery (until then located next to the patronal church), but this was not possible since public hygiene laws stipulated construction outside of built-up areas.
- employ the funds left to the municipality for the “Latin school,” since it had been discontinued for some time.
In order to study and thus finally solve the problem of the public spring, the engineer Agostino Arthemalle was entrusted with the task of finding among the various springs on Mount Cacau the one most suitable for the ‘supply of water for the spring.
The engineer proposed the construction of a cobblestone forecourt, a drinking trough and a wash-house so that the water would reach the same site as the ruins of the existing spring and “then erect on these the new one in square form with bronze tap slopes, to avoid in the scarcity of water waste.”
The total planned expenditure for the work amounted to 6318 Liras, while the engineer’s fee was set at 144 Liras.
A number of private individuals wanted to contribute, among them Antonangelo Cerchi Satta, a wealthy landowner of Bonorva, who took the needs of the population to heart, and who wanted to donate 1440 Lire for this project, a bequest accepted by unanimous vote of the City Council on April 17, 1852.
Unfortunately, however, the sum turned out to be insufficient, and hopes of finding the funds in a short time faded and the wait was prolonged for another 6 years.
The go-ahead for construction came on June 12, 1858, under the administration of physician Antonio Bichiri.
The executive project was prepared by engineer Sassernò, who resumed, with slight modifications, that of Arthemalle.
Giuseppe Ottimo, a contractor from Quittengo (Biella) domiciled in Pozzomaggiore, was awarded the contract.
Work on the spring ended on November 12, 1861 and employed 4 laborers, 3 masons and 2 stonecutters.
It is easy to imagine the satisfaction of an entire population that waited more than 20 years for such an achievement, although there are no sources on the aesthetic impact it had on it.
From that year on, the ancient fonte de S’enu was referred to by the Bonorvese simply as Funtana.
On December 11, 1966, thanks to the determination of Mayor Tetti, the Council launched the realization in Funtana Square of the Antiquarium, an open-air municipal museum (entrusted in its realization to geom. Emidio Muroni) whose purpose was the storage and preservation of the artifacts found in the excavations of S. Andria and in the archaeological campaigns organized around the village.
