What is a fortified house

Fortified houses are buildings usually developed vertically over several floors in the form of a tower, constituting the core of a rural estate of lordly ownership, where during the Middle Ages important economic activities took place, generally related to agriculture and livestock farming, but sometimes also mining or other activities typically under the prerogative of seigneurial authority.
This type of structure emerged as early as the early Middle Ages and became widespread in rural areas during periods when security was precarious and the defense of goods and supplies was not aimed at armies, but rather concerned the local sphere, where sometimes hostile members of society operated, or where criminals lurked, ready to do anything to seize provisions and wealth.
From a structural point of view, these were well-built constructions, comparable to those used in castle building, usually with few openings, developed over several floors, and featuring architectural details typical of Medieval buildings. Their forms were suited to passive defense, largely achieved through simple measures such as removing the access ladder to the upper floors whenever danger arose.

Numerous fortified houses have passed through the centuries preserving their original structure intact, while others have undergone transformations: either evolving into fortified castles through successive expansions or, in other cases, becoming incorporated into more complex settlement nuclei that later formed the basis of rural villages.

In the Canavese historical context, based on the evidence still present on the ground, it is possible to identify the different types of these distinctive buildings, often linked to the development or consolidation of settlement dynamics, although in some cases the original structures have been reduced to ruins that are not easily recognizable.
In almost all cases, fortified houses located in rural environments were surrounded by agricultural buildings (barns, granaries, cellars, stables, sheepfolds, etc.), intended to host substantial resources consisting of livestock and produce derived from the activities carried out on the estate, without diminishing the passive defensive aspects that underpinned the construction of the building. They were active elements of the local economy, since in the Middle Ages wealth derived from the land, and this type of construction represented the stronghold around which the economic activity of a clearly defined locus revolved, through human interventions aimed at making it productive, such as land clearing, terracing, irrigation channels, and road systems. Over time, they represented key elements of seigneurial policies and were often the object of fierce disputes between domains, even within local wars, with dramatic changes of ownership and, at times, harsh armed interventions.

In most cases, fortified houses were owned by feudal lords and connected to more complex valley-floor structures, such as castles, and were managed through appointed overseers responsible for running the complex of rural activities and, more generally, the economic interests associated with them. The defensive aspect of these structures was essential to provide security to the overseer and his associates, both against possible external interference by individuals or armed groups approaching with intentions of plunder, and to ensure the safe exercise of command and control over servile groups and/or wage laborers. These, often numerous, operated within the structure, joined by those obligated to provide labor services (roide and corvée) owed to the lord and carried out within the same economic context. Within this varied human environment, strong tensions were not uncommon.

During the formative centuries of Alpine valley settlement, fortified houses were the key element in the occupation of territories by seigneurial authorities, around which deforestation and the cultivation of large areas of land were carried out on previously unused lands, together with significant coppicing of hillside forests and the introduction of chestnut trees.

Fortified houses were almost always associated with a rural settlement, located at an appropriate distance according to precise territorial planning, where servants and free wage-earning villagers were housed, acting as labor providers for economic activities, which in most cases were subordinate and sometimes very demanding, in line with the usual seasonal variations tied to agricultural cycles. Even with respect to this presence, sometimes quite numerous, the protective characteristics of the fortified house acted as a deterrent against possible aggressive intentions toward the lordly representatives who exercised authority at the local level.