The town of the trulli with their conical stone roofs
In the heart of the Itria Valley, Alberobello is unique in the world: its two districts, Rione Monti and Aia Piccola, are made up of over 1,500 trulli, small white houses built with dry stone, without mortar, topped by grey conical roofs of limestone slabs, often decorated with painted symbols and crowned by a stone pinnacle. Since 1996 the trulli of Alberobello have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The origin of this building technique is ancient, but its spread in Alberobello has a curious explanation: in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Counts of Conversano, lords of the area, had the peasants build houses without mortar so that they could be quickly dismantled in the event of an inspection by the Kingdom of Naples, thus avoiding the taxes due on new settlements. In 1797 the inhabitants obtained the status of a royal town from the Bourbon king. The Rione Monti is the most picturesque and touristy, with shops and restaurants in the trulli; the Aia Piccola is quieter and still inhabited. Worth seeing are the Trullo Sovrano, the only two-storey trullo, now a museum, and the church of Sant'Antonio, built in the shape of a trullo.
Tip: for a magical atmosphere, visit at sunset or in the evening, when the trulli are lit; you can sleep in a trullo, many have been converted into guesthouses.
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