THE LOOPHOLE
ITA
ENG
Several times during the visit, it will be pointed out that Malavilla belongs to the fortified house type of building, i.e., a fortified farmhouse.
According to this logic, the ground floor, which was the weak point of the building, had no large openings that could expose the house to the danger of intrusion. It was protected by the armored entrance door and its locking system with retractable posts embedded in the walls.
On the northeast side, there is a small rectangular opening, very narrow and high: the loophole. This element could be used as a hole from which to shoot arquebuses, bows, and crossbows, but its small size was itself a guarantee against intrusion, so much so that it did not even require the addition of a grate.
The interior of the embrasure is particularly interesting from a construction point of view: note the detail of the sill structure, composed of courses of sandstone forming a sort of ladder, visible today due to the fall of the lime, but which in reality would have been plastered to form a uniform and smooth slope towards the interior.
This architecture was designed for two reasons: to facilitate defense and the use of weapons, but also to increase, albeit slightly, the diffusion of light.