Can one house contain an entire village? Find out by visiting the Ubac house-village, or Obacco in Italian. In the hamlet of Ubac you will find a large building that is considered the best example in the Maira Valley of the ‘village-house’ architectural typology. These buildings are so called because they represent the entirety or the predominant part of a settlement.

The building consists of several residential units that are under the same roof and are connected to each other by internal covered walkways. A solution that made it possible to move around easily even in heavy snowfalls and that better maintained warmth in the home when temperatures became colder.

In the case of Ubac di Canosio, the large house is only one part of the hamlet, where other smaller buildings are also located. Walk through the passage inside the house. Because of its length it is always dark, even in broad daylight. This is why it was equipped with a lighting system. Originally the whole building was owned by the same family: a way of staying close, generation after generation. Would you like to live in a village house?

• Borgata Ubac (Canosio)