The dark doors - porte toupe- were some sorts of low and dark porches, with wooden ceiling. “Toupe” in the  local  Piedmontese dialect means exactly “dark”.

They were built in 1313 by the owners of the houses facing the square, to be rented, during market days, to the stalls holders who sold cheese, butter and walnuts.

They were demolished in 1700 due to their crumbling and unsafe structure. What is left, a tiny dark cave, can be seen at the end of via Marsala (which in Medieval time was called “rua delle ova”- eggs street), on the left hand side of the Credenza.