Poços da Neve

These are large cavities opened by man in the ground at some points of the mountain, and were intended to receive hail that falls during the winter in the exposed parts of the island.

The snow wells are now abandoned, but they were the ones that supplied the necessary ice for making sorbets during the summer, before the devices were introduced in Madeira through which the freezing of water is artificially obtained.

In the vicinity of Pico do Areeiro and Serra de S. Roque, there are some snow wells, some very ruined, others in good condition.