SECOND FLOOR:
THE DOVECOTE
The second floor was used for various purposes: being the driest part of the house, it was used as a sleeping area, but also as a store for grain. Its use as living space is confirmed by the presence of a latrine in the north-west, with a drain on the façade, a very rare feature in this area.
The second floor was also used for two other very important functions: first of all, pigeon breeding, which was essential for the self-sufficiency of the building, which could thus count on meat, eggs, and guano (used as fertilizer). Secondly, the defensive function of monitoring the territory, both for the security of Malavilla and, in all likelihood, for the control of the territory in favor of the local feudal lord, with whom the owner was certainly in a relationship of economic dependence.
Malavilla, in fact, is not a building created by a farmer: it is a rich building, constructed with selected techniques and materials, which certainly required a client with high economic means. For this reason, it was built in a strategic point in the valley: in direct visual communication with the castle of Castrignano (at that time visible to the northeast) and with the two passages to Val Baganza and Val Parma, it certainly constituted a sort of garrison for the control of the territory.
For this purpose, it is likely that there was an external balcony running along the house, accessible from the windows on the first and second floors. This allowed pigeon eggs to be collected and provided access to the sacred shrine on the façade, another element of great historical value.
One last detail enriches the second level and the whole of Malavilla: a propitiatory pot, found during the restoration work and hidden in one of the corners of the room. It was walled up during the construction of the building as a good luck charm for the house.