This procedure is considered since Middle Ages, as healthy as lime is thought to withdraw the plagues. In fact, lime and lime wash act as a disinfectant which truly improves the salubriousness in the urban centres.
Lime is done through the liquefaction of the marble stones at high temperatures. Thus, until few time ago, the lime furnaces played an important role in the Alentejo either it was in the patrimonial level, as they helped to maintain a unique image in Europe, or environmental, as they helped to clean the wastes of the marble industrial production and to presser hygiene in urban centres. Today, with the introduction of plastic paint, more durable, the lime furnaces lost importance and are disappearing.