This type of house hasn't changed a lot during the centuries; their local features and building materials are almost the same.
Attachment to tradition has always been very strong in our farmers, not only in architecture but also in their lifestyle.
Consequently rural life hasn't changed so far in spite of the introduction of more and more modern machines.
The rural house was in the past and is now basic and simple but functional with large openings, exterior stairs , open galleries (called "portego") to keep in touch with nature.

From a building point of view, we can say that the structures are very simple and the building materials are nearly always local: the rural houses have walls in stone and mortar, limestone or granite or porphiry depending on the areas. In the XVI century bricks were introduced; today, of course, tiles, perforated bricks are mainly used.
FLOORING: floor is usually made of stone slabs on the ground floor and wooden on the first and second floors.
ROOF: roofs are always with two pitches. The oldest covering material was straw which had big advantages like lightness and  thermic resistance but also the great risk of fire. So in 1300, straw was forbidden and replaced by thin larch board/bars called "scandole".
Later, in the second half of 1500, also the wooden covering was considered dangerous and it was replaced by stone slabs and tiles
ORIENTING:  another  important feature, common to rural houses in every age, was the orientation of the facades and the balconies towards midday in order to enjoy the hottest sunrays.

The most important rooom, the hearth of the house is the kitchen, used as a meeting place, usually with a fireplace .

Originally  the farmers built a single building where people and animals lived altogether; later on the living part for the family was separated from the stable for the animals. Usually the stable was in the west side and the family dwelling in the eastern part with its facade southward

The most typical rural houses are in the venetian area and in the so called  Marca Trevigiana (the area around Treviso), with their galleries, and the buildings all lined up.

In the area near and around the lagoon and along the Adriatico coast, there is a particular type of rural house, the so called  "casone ". The casoni are very old, probably some of them date back to the Middle Ages. Originally they were built with the clay from the rivers dried by sun or with bricks or stones, mainly in the area of mount Grappa, and the typical roof made of straw.  Normally its plant is quadrangular. Many of them were built in areas where fishing was the main activity, for example on the Po's mouth, so fishermen used the casoni not only like a house but also like a store-room for their fishing equipment.

Mountain Farmhouse