On the upstream side of piazza della Commenda, turn into via di Prè. After a short walk, turn left into vico di Santa Brigida to reach piazza dei Truogoli di Santa Brigida. 

It is the square of the old wash houses, surrounded by beautifully renovated and colourful old houses, with a sacred aedicule on one wall. In the middle of the square there is an iron roof covering the "truogoli” (the so-called Genoese troughs) where until not many decades ago the women of the neighbourhood met to wash clothes and socialise.

The old Genoese used to say that in Santa Brigida 'water was wasted', as the wash-house fountain was always open.

The square and the “truogoli” are named after the convent - now disappeared - that once occupied the area upstream of the square and Via Balbi.

Today it is one of the most beautiful squares in the old town, charming when it is deserted and silent, cheerful when it is animated by people coming in and out of restaurants, bookshops and small shops.

Under the canopy of the troughs people sit around small tables to have lunch or an aperitif, attend public readings, lectures, open-air films.