QR5 THE ELEVATED ACCESS
The characteristic of the fortified house is that it is a fortified rural building. There are two entrances to the fortified house: one on the ground floor for the entry of animals and one on the first floor, an elevated access reachable thanks to a staircase that was withdrawn inside to ensure the defense of the building. The architecture of this portal, almost identical to the one on the ground floor, amazes for the ingenuity with which it was first designed and never added later. The closing system was entrusted to hard wooden poles, probably oak, a typical wood of the place, which were inserted into the wall for their entire length when the door was open, and embedded in the opposite wall to tighten the closure. Note the design and construction quality of this detail of the attachment between the pole and the wall made of a single block of sandstone which, in a single element, acts as a joint for the pole and a clamp to anchor the abutments to the wall, thus counteracting the tip load of the abutments themselves.
But how to defend the ground floor? Even the door on the ground floor is so to speak "armoured" by poles placed both horizontally (as on the first floor) and diagonally, embedded in the holes of the vault and on the ground.
Even the internal staircase, which connects the lowest floor with the floors above, was withdrawn to the living area and protected by a trap door closed from the inside and reinforced by wooden poles.