The traditional house that conveys the history of the lowland territories is a single-storey dwelling.

The roof, very steeply pitched, sometimes allowed for the creation of loft spaces, though these were mainly used for storage.

Simple to build and practical to use, the single-storey house could be raised in exceptional cases: when the site was prone to flooding or where animals could pose a risk.

With population growth and, above all, with urban development, a new problem emerged: lack of space.

The fifteenth-century city was enclosed by defensive walls, whose construction was extremely costly and imposed as a tax on citizens. The space within the walls was therefore precious and had to be used as efficiently as possible to meet the needs of a growing population.

Houses began to grow vertically: two, three, or more storeys.

However, the increase in height should not suggest a multi-family building. Despite becoming narrower and taller, the fifteenth-century house remained a single-family dwelling, with an entrance from the street and a small strip of land at the back, used as a vegetable garden.

Wood was the most efficient and widely used building material: strong, lightweight, and easy to work with. Entire buildings were constructed in wood — walls, floors, and roof.

Because of its flexibility, increasing the height made structures unstable. For this reason, in the Po Valley a mixed construction technique was soon adopted: brick walls combined with wooden floors and roofs.

To protect the wood from the moisture often retained by bricks, beams were made to project outward so that their ends remained well ventilated and dry. These overhangs also allowed the upper floors to be extended, a feature much appreciated, to the point that city authorities often had to regulate their size and prevent abuses.

Roofs were very steep due to coverings made of straw or reeds, which required slopes of over 100% to ensure waterproofing. Over time, straw bundles were replaced with terracotta tiles to reduce the risk of fire, which was unfortunately very common.

Internal staircases were small and steep, in order to save space.

When not built in masonry, the external walls were filled with a weave of thin branches forming a rigid lattice, which was then plastered both inside and out.

Windows were small and without glass. To protect against the cold, wooden panels (shutters) were closed at night.

Water was drawn from wells. More important buildings had wells and fountains within their premises, while humbler houses shared a communal well, often located at the end of a street or in a small square.

Heating was provided by a fireplace in the kitchen which, in urban houses, was always equipped with a flue reaching the roof ridge. When located on upper floors, the base of the fireplace was made of stone to prevent contact with the wooden structure.

Arcades, fairly common also in Carpi, were built with wooden pillars resting on brick or stone bases. To prevent excessive deformation of the beams above, diagonal braces were added alongside the pillars.