Alberobello: In this Italian village, the houses wear pointed caps
Ever heard of trulli? These are certain houses that can only be found in Italy . More specifically, only in southern Italy, in Apulia. First of all, Apulia offers a great deal of architectural diversity. In Lecce , for example, there's an amphitheater and magnificent Baroque palaces.
Apulia is home to magnificent buildings like the Palazzo Mincuzzi in Apulia. But the simple trulli are the most fascinating.
Source: IMAGO/Pond5 Images
Bari has almost everything to offer, from Romanesque churches to Art Nouveau palaces. And in Ostuni, you'll find chalk-white houses with flat roofs and round vaulted ceilings made of tuff. They stand in the middle of the old town hill – or among olive groves, like the Casa Cupido .
But the true symbol of Apulia are the round stone houses with pointed roofs. They can be found nowhere else in this shape. The so-called trulli are found only in southern Italy. You can often spot these buildings along the roadsides. But these ancient houses can only be found in large numbers in one town: Alberobello.
Most of the trulli are located in the Monti district – exactly 1030. From a distance, this part of Alberobello looks like a dwarf village.
Source: Conny Derdak
Alberobello is home to a whopping 1,500 trulli. This is also the reason why UNESCO declared parts of the city a World Heritage Site in 1996. UNESCO's official justification states: "The extent and homogeneity of these areas, the preservation of traditional building techniques, and the fact that the trulli are still inhabited, make this site an exceptional historic urban landscape."
If you move out of the Monti district, you will also find quiet alleys.
Source: Conny Derdak
But how did these round houses with pointed roofs, which look like Smurf houses, come about? Trulli were originally built as field shelters and warehouses. They also served as housing for farm workers and small landowners. This was already the case in the 14th century.
In the mid-16th century, there were only about forty trulli in the region now known as Alberobello. The settlement only began to grow in 1620, when the then Count Gian Girolamo Guercio ordered the construction of a bakery, a mill, and an inn.
Admittedly, many of the alleys in the Monti district are quite touristy. It's best not to visit during peak season!
Source: Conny Derdak
The expansion was successful: By the end of the 18th century, the community was already home to over 3,500 people. Today, Alberobello has a population of around 10,000. Incidentally, the Italian town seems to have taken its name from something unusual: Alberobello means "beautiful tree."
The walls of the trulli are made of limestone. The conical roofs are made of stacked gray stones. Trulli also have a very special characteristic: they are built using the dry-stone technique, meaning they are built without mortar or cement.
The roofs of the trulli are made of flat stones stacked on top of each other. A decorative spire, the "zippus," is often attached at the very top.
Source: Conny Derdak
Why? The reason is probably that people wanted to avoid taxation by the Kingdom of Naples at the time. No taxes had to be paid for temporary houses. And because of the dry construction method, the houses could be dismantled at any time, so it was said. At least in theory.
Those who pay attention will notice that some trulli roofs have white symbols. What's behind these symbols? On the one hand, they're intended to serve as a means of recognition, similar to a nameplate.
Many trulli roofs contain supposedly mysterious symbols. They are said to have various meanings.
Source: IMAGO/Panthermedia
Other drawings are based on religious symbolism. And yet other symbols are meant to offer special protection. And perhaps there really is something behind them. Given how long the "dwarf settlement" has been standing, one might certainly think so.
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