What do you think this random hole in a wall in an old farmhouse is (pic inc)

[IHopeYouStepOnALegPiece]

For context, it’s an 18th century Italian farmhouse, this is a main room on the ground floor, it’s like a box (thought it was a hatch but no hole in the other side)

answers on a postcard 😂

Where?

Good point 😂

Is it cooler in there because it’s in the wall? A weird 18thc fridge?

My first thought was a bread oven but can’t see a fireplace. Is there one?

Is it not some sort of bread oven/dough riser? Is it next to a chimney?

I did wonder about a fridge but is v small, microwave size with a glass front. No no chimney or fireplace in that room otherwise I probably would’ve agreed with bread oven!

Is it lined - stone/marble/lead? In which case it is probably a kind of cool cupboard for dairy etc. Pre fridge era.

Is it on an external or internal wall? Does the door have mesh in (for air flow)

It does look like a microwave! Could it be for displaying something?

To display something religious?
Letterbox?
Cold store?
Honesty box?

Not sure if it’s lined, it’s an internal wall but could have been external at one point. The walls are stone and are 0.5-1m thick so fridge does make sense

I lived in ŕome. Those sorts of things were for displaying religous statues/candles/plasticflowers etc... Maybe?

I’ve seen something like that (not in Italy) used to display religious things, an Infant of Prague & things

Looks like it could have been a meat store from pre fridge times.

My guess would also be a small shrine - maybe just for a statue, but perhaps for a relic as well. There might have been a table in front for a candle.

Is it an external wall? We like to rent Baleric fincas as our holiday of choice and they often have tiny little windows at weird heights, often with a mesh or an even tinier window shutter within the tiny window that opens to make a draft I’ve always assumed! But maybe they’re not windows and religious display boxes after all…

On the ananda and Alan show where they do up an Italian house, they were told these were where they sold wine!

Plague hatch possibly?

Is a meat safe? A cool area with a mesh door to keep flies off

As suggested above, in Italy I expect that is for religious icons - picture of the Madonna, maybe a candle or two.

Ashes of a loved one?

place to put a hidden safe, under as picture on the wall?