Why is the ground inside the palazzo where we are staying wet?
The other evening I took this photo standing by the elevator in the palazzo where we are staying:
Notice that the ground is wet. No, the roof isn’t leaking. In fact, there is no roof over that spot (that’s a view looking straight up from the drain — don’t get vertigo!):
When we lived in Bolzano many years ago, we went on at least one walking tour, and one of the things we learned is that palazzos there had open stairwells as an extra means of cooling. The natural heat differentials between inside and out would create cooling drafts, crucial during the hot summer months before there was air conditioning. Of course, extra cooling in the winter is not such a good thing, so I’m not sure about that aspect. Maybe I’ll ask around.
Still, it’s fun to remember some old knowledge (from when we lived in Bolzano) of even older knowledge (how to create additional cooling with the open interior stair wells).
But why is the ground wet? Don’t leave us hanging!
Sorry, I must have been fuzzy from eating all this good food. It was raining when I took the first photo, but sunny the next morning.
Interesting!