Perhaps the most popular tourist destination from Puglia, is the small town of Alberobello. “The city of the Trulli”, how is often called, resembles nothing else you have seen before. A “Trullo” (the singular from Trulli) is the name of an unusual type of dwelling: round white walls, gray conical roofs with a point and no windows.
Although you’ll find countless “trulli” in many more areas from the Itria Valley, Alberobello collected the biggest number of them in one place, being today a UNESCO protected site.
This place has the appearance of a fantasy town or perhaps the stage of a theater play… But no fairy and no smurfs will show up. Because these “trulli” are real households, and they were inhabited by whole families since at least 600 years ago. It’s true that today many of them are transformed into souvenir shops, small museums and vacation hotels, but centuries ago they were homes.
They may seem simple and actually this simplicity makes them all the more impressive. They were built from the bottom all the way up to the roof, from rocks that were found in abundance in the region. Only in the last 200 years mortar was used to keep the parts “glued” together. Before that, the builders were only relying on the round shape and the gravity. We really need to appreciate the cleverness of the people, because there’s a reason they came up with this construction technique. Back in those medieval times, people were having a harsh existence under the rule of the Kingdom of Neaples, that had imposed high taxes for the households. But the “trullo”, having this unusual shape was not considered a “house”. And in fact, when rumor came in town that the tax gatherers were approaching, the “trullo” was demolished over night but was rebuilt again after the “danger” had been gone away.
However, they are by no means weak buildings. So many of them lasted more than half a millennium after all.
Where to find the picture perfect spots?
The higher, panoramic spots were my favorite places for taking the pictures. Santa Lucia View Point, from Piazza Plebiscito is easy to find and in the heart of the town.
Leaving this square, we crossed the main boulevard called Largo Martellotta and entered the oldest part of the town and the most beautiful, called Monti District. Some of the souvenir shops will let you go up on the roof, where you can take as many pictures as you want, having a 360 degree view of the old town. But Italians know how to make money out of tourism, because there’s a trade off: you have to buy a souvenir on your way out. The shop I found, with a panoramic terrace, was located no 26, Via Monte Sabotino.
The most famous trulli
Trullo Sovrano (translates to King), just like the name suggests, is the most imposing of them all, because it’s the only one to have been built on two floors. Comparing it with the other dwellings, it has quite an impressive number of rooms that are today decorated with unique traditional belongings from the Village of Alberobello. The entrance ticket was 3EUR.
The Church of Sant’Antonio is the only church to keep the aspect of a trullo and it’s quite young comparing it with the others trulli, having a little under 100 years of life.
The Siamese Trullo is among the most ancient. It appears like two round huts blended into one longer body, but both cones were kept. Or, even better, imagine the back of a camel with two humps 🙂 Only a part of this construction is painted white, the rest has been preserved to its initial aspect. Because the white painting on the exterior walls that we see today on most of the trulli is a modern addition. In those older times, very few inhabitants would spend time to paint a trullo, knowing the next day there were high chances to have it demolished.
You’ll notice unusual symbols on the cones of many of the trulli. Some of them are Christian signs, some of them are considered magical or primitive symbols and they were painted by the people as a way to keep them protected.
Magic symbols painted on the cones of the trulli
Sleep in a Trullo
To have a complete experience of the town, you have to spend the night inside a trullo. We really enjoyed our stay at Trulileu Guesthouse. Although it’s not situated in the heart of the town, you arrive in less than 10 minutes to Monti District, the historic part of the town. And a big bonus, we also had access to the roof to admire once more the greay sea of cones from the town of Alberobello.
Read all about our entire roadtrip to Puglia:
Ego Diary Travel 
Thanks for the pics and story. My mom’s family is from Alberobello.
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How lovely and how happy I am to bring you some memories:) These trulli are one of a kind dwellings, and the story of the place is just as fascinating in my opinion
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Ow such a lovely article with great photos! We were there on a roadtrip 3 year ago but as the weather was so horrible we decided to keep driving South. Reading your post now I think we will need to go back and hope for blue skies too!
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I think it’s worth going back and visiting Alberobello 🙂 But what other places did you manage to visit from Puglia?
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We visited some different villages and cities on that trip. Two of hem being the picturesque Vieste and another one I liked was Lecce. This was the last trip before we started our travel blog/website, so unfortunately we did not write about it… Did you visited any of these?
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We also visited Lecce and also really liked it. We did a tour with the car in Puglia, so other places that we stopped in were: Gallipoli, a former fisherman’s village but today transformed into a beautiful sea side resort, Ostuni called the white town of Italy, Matera a really impressive town.
There are some more articles in my blog about this journey, if you are interested to know more.
I’m really sorry you did not get to write about Vieste, it’s actually the first time that I hear about this place and would have loved to see your experience.
But if you ever go back, i’m sure you’ll have really great stories to tell. 🙂
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I listed you blog among my favourites for our next trip I will definitely check out your posts. Are you currently planning any new trips?
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Thank you:) That’s very nice of you, really! Well, yes, we’re planning a trip to Greece actually:) But it will be a one of a kind. I’m also taking my parents and my in-laws. It will be interesting to say the least:) If you have been to Greece and have any tips on hidden gems that we must not miss, let me know;)
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Ow wow that requires a slightly different kind of planning I think! I have never been but my partner has been traveling to Greece many times so I will ask her and get back to you 🙂
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We also visited Lecce and also really liked it. We did a tour with the car in Puglia, so other places that we stopped in were: Gallipoli, a former fisherman’s village but today transformed into a beautiful sea side resort, Ostuni called the white town of Italy, Matera a really impressive town.
There are some more articles in my blog about this journey, if you are interested to know more.
I’m really sorry you did not get to write about Vieste, it’s actually the first time that I hear about this place and would have loved to see your experience.
But if you ever go back, i’m sure you’ll have really great stories to tell. 🙂
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Your photos are so nice!! We’ve never heard of this place before, but it’s definitely inspired us to have a look and find out more about it 🙂
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Happy to hear that you liked it! It’s a dreamy place, and Puglia, the extended region it belongs to, has an array of this kind of unique towns, it really a worth visiting region of Italy. I have some more articles about Puglia, if you’re interested into finding more;)
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Woowwww – your pics are absolutely gorgeous – love this cute little white houses. Honestley, I never heard about it before but now its definately high up on my bucket list. Your amazing pics really made me wanna go there.
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Wow, I had never heard of this place before, it’s such an incredible town. It reminds me of a man made version of Cappadocia but also of the pottery chimneys in Staffordshire in the UK too. I would love to visit one day!
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Well, I don t know whether there is any connection between Alberobello and Cappadocia, but there is actually a connection between Cappadocia and Matera, a town not too far away from Alberobello. Both Matera and Alberobello are really amazing towns that I am really happy we visited last summer. Cappadocia is also on my list, the pictures I saw from there are stunning!
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Such a wonderful article with wonderful pics. I have not heard about this place before but looks like a must visit. Thanks for sharing.
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These are so beautiful and full of character, exactly what you hope to find when travelling. I love the history of them too. Anything to avoid the tax man! I shall definitely seek out this place when I am next in Italy.
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Indeed, it’s interesting the collective behavior of people facing harsh conditions, and how they adapted and manage to overcome them
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Those are some beautiful captured shots, capturing the real beauty of Alberobello. To be frank this is the first time I am reading about Alberobello, and am glad I came across this, as now I know I have to visit this beautiful place.
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Vernacular architecture like this one fascinates me to no end. I loved this post and the fact that you delved deeper into the reasons/construction details of the trullo. 600 years and still going strong.
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Thank you! An I just learned a new word in English, ‘vernacular’ 😉. They are intriguing constructions, so resistant, when you think they are fragile
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Those pictures are insane. I have never been to Alberobello, but now I really want to go. The roofs are so cool
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You’re right, it certainly does look like a fantasy town! I’ve never seen anything like it! Alberobello is so going on my list now. I can’t believe I hadn’t even heard about it until now. Thank you!!
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Happy that you enjoyed my article, thank you for the great support! And indeed, Alberobello is an amazing little Italian town
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