musings of my mind: The Trulli of Alberobello

When Craig served his mission in Italy as a young man, who was located in Brindsi and Lecce. While there he heard about the city of Alberobello and its trulli homes but he was never able to visit. Since this was a desire of his to visit we put it on our agenda after a Young Adult trip north.

Alberobello is in the Pulgi area of Italy along the heel of the boot. We traveled there from Rome by car. Arriving in Bari the night before took several hours because of the slow traffic limits and what seemed like never ending roads. Plus there is not a direct route. We explored Bari that evening and the next morning, then drove on to Alberobello about 1 hour south.

Although Alberobello is know to be very touristy, we were still able to explore the town without feeling too crowded.

The uniqueness of the trulli conical shaped buildings, a community of about 10,000 people, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996. The area started to be built up during the 15th century. It is stated there are over 1600 authentic buildings in the area of Alberobello.

Most of the homes are now shops with articles to purchase, food to buy, or places to eat. A few were open just for peeking inside. While inside one of the homes, we were told the houses were built this way so the smoke from the home fires inside would rise and not cause problems. This made sense at the time and still does. But a little internet research says trulli are whitewashed with limestone rectangle shaped homes with conical dome roofs made of overlapping stones. This arrangement made for self supporting homes. The whole purpose was to avoid taxes.

Apparently this made the homes temporary instead of permanent. Temporary meant lower taxes, permanent meant higher taxes. Building was continued in this form even after the community was decreed a royal city - which meant the taxes stayed low. I assume the townspeople liked the style at this point.

Some of the trulli are also decorated with pinnacles that are perhaps the signature of the master builder or also symbolic religious or mystic elements. Some of the roofs were painted with additional symbols that represent the same.

Craig and I enjoyed our wanderings in this little town. We meandered our way to the top of the hillside where The Church of Sant'Antonio is located. Built in the same style of the homes but in 1927. There is a fresco above the altar of Christ Pantocrator painted by Adolfo Rollo. Across from the church is a pleasant park to rest or relax at.

Upon first arriving in Alberobello, it took a moment to find parking and paying. Initially I was hesitate because of an obvious street market offering lots of food, souvenirs, and drinks; even shoes. But once passed this commercial area we got into the streets with the homes. Although it may have seemed like there was a thoroughfare, the homes are connected and set close to each other and the streets did not have an obvious plan or direction. We wandered one street than another, mostly finding our way upward. We stopped to peek inside several shops and did choose a couple of simple souvenirs. There are a few buildings that offered for a small fee a view of the entire town and some offer a free view. We took advantage of one and walked up one narrow staircase to look and down another narrow staircase. The community was clean and neat.