If you like a quiet province with its uncomplicated life and special charm, then a small italian city ok Alberobello will be a real discovery for you.
This amazing place is located in the province of Bari, Italian region Apulia. The town is located on two hills separated by a river. On the east is modern Alberobello, and on the west is Trullo, famous for its unique medieval buildings.
Original buildings called "trulli" give Alberobello a unique uniqueness. These unusual white houses with cone-shaped roofs form entire streets.
The original trulli, resembling fabulous dwellings, are located in two districts of the city - in the Monti area and in the Ayia Pikkula area. The main feature of the buildings is that they were erected without the use of any strengthening solutions, and this was not done by chance.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Kingdom of Naples had a law imposing a special tax on all urban settlements. To save on taxes, the Akvaviva dynasty ruling the city forbade its peasants to build strong houses using cement.
Local residents found a way to organize a roof over their heads and at the same time please the ruling feudal lords. They came up with round houses with domed roofs lined with stones, which were easy to destroy if tax collectors came to the settlement.
Trullia domes were decorated with domes of various shapes, which, according to some scientists, testified to the skill of the builder and the class to which the owner of the house belonged. In addition, the domes were decorated with special mystical signs, which can still be seen on the roofs of perfectly preserved trullia.
In 1797, by a special decree of the King of Naples, Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, the city of Alberobello received freedom and the need for constant construction and destruction of houses disappeared from the inhabitants.
Modern Alberobello is a great tourist attraction. In summer, concerts and poetry evenings, jazz festivals are regularly held here. In 1996, Trullos entered the list world heritage UNESCO.
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This is the southern part of Italy, which is located on the heel of the peninsula-boot. We lived in the city for a week Monopoli, and a week in Polignano a Mare. While moving from one place of rest to another, we went on an excursion to an original place Alberobello. Many Belarusians have heard about Dududki, and so this is the same place.
Name Alberobello(ital. Alberobello), presumably comes from the name of those growing here in in large numbers wild oaks ("arboris belli")
Alberobello known for its white-stone houses with a conical roof - (trulli). There are about 1070 and they are all very well preserved. In 1996 were included in the list cultural heritage UNESCO.
trulli- This traditional houses which are round on the outside and square on the inside. building materials are readily available in this area - these are large stones laid in masonry in a dry way. Trulli have a conical roof made of thin material and are closed and topped with a solid stone with decorations. The outer part of the cone is covered with limestone slabs.
Origin It is not known, but it is interesting that the same structures exist in Turkey, in the village of Harran, which is described in the Book of Genesis.
One of the versions may be as follows. Around the 16th century Andrea Matteo III brought his peasants here to cultivate the land. However, he did not want to pay a tax to the Neapolitan king for each building. Therefore, the inhabitants collected pieces of limestone in all the surrounding fields and built their dwellings from them without using a bonding solution. Such houses could be quickly and easily destroyed. To do this, one stone was knocked out at the base and the house turned into a pile of stones. And after the departure of the tax collector, the building was rebuilt within a few days.
This trick allowed the local dukes to prosper, but their peasants had to rebuild a roof over their heads every time.
In 1797, King Ferdinand of the Bourbon dynasty granted the city Alberobello freedom and tax exemption. After that, some really began to build their houses using a fastening material. But most of the inhabitants were able to fully believe in the granted freedom, because the king at any moment could take away the gift.
Classic domed houses continued to appear until 1925, when a law was issued by the Italian authorities prohibiting erection. It also operates in our time. This means that you can only reconstruct existing buildings, but in no case build new ones. And destroying existing ones is also prohibited.
trulli found throughout Puglia, But Alberobello- this is the only city in the world in which entire quarters with trulli have been preserved.
Some houses are still inhabited, inside they are well-appointed in a modern way. Other houses housed shops, craftsmen's workshops and restaurants. Some have opened mini-hotels.
Vie with each other on the streets offering local specialties and souvenirs. We tried hot red pepper jam and cactus liqueur. Well, pasta of course Italy it's impossible not to try.
They offer linen products. The quality of the workmanship amazed us. The price really matches the quality: for a tablecloth, which is shown in the picture, for example, - 200 euros.
A lot of souvenirs from ceramics, olive wood, stone are sold.
There are also local nesting dolls. You look at a rag doll - like Little Red Riding Hood from Charles Perot's fairy tale. The seller turns the skirt inside out - already her grandmother. Take off your grandmother's bonnet, and the gray wolf is already looking at you.
Local craftsmen sculpt funny clay sculptures with scenes from the life of Italians.
As already mentioned, building new trulli is prohibited by law. Therefore, the masters who have kept the secrets of building these houses make them in miniature for tourists.
We purchased a trulli puzzle from the workshop of Maffei Giuseppe. For his works of art made of stone, he was even awarded government diplomas and other awards, which can be seen next to his handicrafts.
Another master Orazio Annese made whole city in miniature. He worked on this composition for 14 months. trulli Made from local stone in 1:50 scale.
The small Italian town of Alberobello is known to many tourists who appreciate comfort and indescribable charm. Italian province. In the season, which lasts from the beginning of May to the end of October, the commune, located in the Puglia region, is flooded with travelers not only from Europe, but from all over the world.
Such popularity of the city with a population of just over 11,000 people is explained quite simply: it is here that fabulous-looking houses - trulli - are located.
Trulli houses in Alberobello from a bird's eye view
These amazing buildings, many of which were built 400 years ago, arouse admiration and an irresistible desire in the guest of Alberobello to stay in the city as long as possible. From May to October, in a settlement founded at the beginning of the 16th century (or maybe much earlier), it is always noisy and crowded: thousands of tourists crowd the narrow streets, numerous guides tell the history of Alberobello and trulli houses in different languages, and local merchants offer travelers a variety of souvenirs and environmentally friendly products. Wine, cheese, grappa, olive oil - all this is invariably in high demand, and literally in a matter of minutes it is bought up by visitors.
In Alberobello, all sellers earn decent amounts during the season, but the main source of income for the local budget is, of course, the tourism business. Only wealthy tourists can afford to stay even for a week in an Italian commune. Prices for rooms in trulli hotels are unusually high. This is due to the fact that huge amounts of money are annually allocated from the city's treasury for the preservation and maintenance of unique trulli structures in their original form. It is worth noting that the domed houses are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List: this suggests that all of them should remain intact for our descendants.
Roofed houses with pagan symbols have long been a favorite subject for professional photographers. Pictures taken in the Italian town of Alberobello constantly grace the covers of the world's most popular travel magazines. Commune in Bari - beautiful place for those who want to enjoy picturesque rural landscapes, get rid of stress and try the "real" vegetables, fruits, wine and dairy products, which have recently become extremely difficult to purchase in supermarkets.
By the way, in this small town you can meet face to face with a star of the world of cinema, show business or a famous politician: many of them have their own trulli houses in Alberobello. Buy this building, built without cement and kept in the literal sense of the word on one stone, can only rich people. The price of one square meter of ancient housing in Italian provincial town has long exceeded 6,500 (!) euros. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that for this amount it is possible to purchase only an almost completely destroyed “useful area”. For whole trulli houses, and even those located in the city center, the price increases immediately by 3-4 times.
Trulli houses in Alberobello
According to historical documents, trulli houses have been built in the Italian city since the end of the 14th century. However, some historians argue that such unusual domed structures appeared on the territory of modern Alberobello much earlier. By the way, such houses were built by ancient people long before the Roman Empire appeared on the map. At the moment, we can only safely say that the name of the city comes from the oak forest (beautiful trees), and the name of the fabulous houses from the word "Trullo", which in Latin means - a dome (houses with a dome). By the way, they are “fabulous” only for modern tourists, the ancient inhabitants of Alberobello at one time had no time for fairy tales.
The technology for building trulli houses is unique, and at the same time, extremely simple. The indigenous inhabitants of the town collected light blocks of limestone from nearby fields, brought them to the construction site and fastened them together without the use of cement. The roof of these buildings resembles a dome, on which the symbol of a pagan deity was depicted.
Masters erected trulli houses not because of religion, and certainly not because of love for the world of beauty and unusual. These living quarters appeared in the Kingdom of Naples only because they were ... quite easy and quick to destroy. Since the beginning of the 16th century, the city of Alberobello was ruled by feudal lords who were part of the legendary Acquaviva dynasty.. They did not want to pay the king a tax on settlements and allowed the peasants to build on their territory only those houses that, if desired, could be turned into a pile of stones in the blink of an eye. As soon as the royal official approached Alberobello, all the inhabitants pulled out a stone at the base of the roof of their house and it immediately collapsed. The settlement instantly disappeared and the feudal lords did not have to pay tax. The rulers prospered, and the townspeople, after the departure of the representative of the king, again had to rebuild the roof over their heads.
The trulli house really rests on one stone: even those buildings that have survived to this day can be easily destroyed in just 10 minutes. Only in 1797, Ferdinand IV of the Bourbon dynasty gave Alberobello freedom and, thereby, saved the townspeople from hard labor. The need to destroy their homes has sunk into the past: in a small settlement, buildings built using cement began to appear.
However, most of the natives still preferred trulli houses (there was always the possibility that a generous king would take away the freedom he had granted). Houses with domed roofs continued to be built. By the way, among these unusual architectural objects you can see both "male" and "female" houses. Ancient masters always decorated the “male” with a dome, on which the symbol of the master and the name of the owner were depicted! In 1925, the Italian authorities issued a law that prohibited the construction of such facilities throughout the country. By the way, this law is also valid in our time: the trulli house can only be reconstructed, new architectural masterpieces according to such a plan and according to such technology are no longer built.
Modern Alberobello: tourism, shopping and entertainment
Today, Alberobello is one of the most attractive tourist destinations for travelers. The city is spread over two picturesque hills separated by a small river. Of greatest interest is East End Alberobello, because it is in it that the largest number of trulli are located. Total Unusual Buildings in ancient city there are a little less than one and a half thousand. Many houses that can be destroyed in a few minutes are still inhabited by people. However, most of the architectural objects of interest to tourists are no longer used for their intended purpose: local entrepreneurs have opened souvenir shops, hotels, restaurants and bars in them.
Alberobello also has two main attractions: a temple built using the same technology as the trulli houses; and the only two-story house in the city that dates from the 18th century. In a two-story building, almost immediately after the inclusion of unusual houses in the UNESCO World Heritage List, a museum was organized dedicated to, as you might guess, trulli houses. The cost of a ticket giving the right to visit this museum is symbolic - only one and a half euros.
Visiting restaurants and bars will cost tourists not as cheap as visiting a local museum. At Il Poeta Contadino, whose interior gives a complete picture of what trulli looked like during the Middle Ages, the cheapest two-course breakfast costs more than 30 euros.
Amazing houses, hospitable locals, National cuisine, which is very popular among true gourmets, interesting story cities - all this attracts tens of thousands of visitors to Alberobello every year. Where there are many tourists, there is always a demand for housing, souvenirs and food: this is well understood by the locals, who, even for huge sums, do not want to part with their trulli house, trulli bar or trulli shop. If in the 16-17th centuries houses built according to ancient technology, brought only a headache to the indigenous population of the city, today they bring a huge income: plain souvenirs, cheese, wine and beer in restaurants end by noon.
August 26th, 2012
Alberobello is one of the most popular tourist places in Apulia. This place is so famous thanks to the complex of 1400 trulli, recognized by UNESCO as part of the historical and humanitarian heritage. This place was first mentioned in the 11th century. In Robert Decherano's donation to the Bishop of Monopoli, it is called "the forest of beautiful trees" (Sylva aut nemur arboris belli). "Trulli", residential limestone peasant buildings located in southern region Apulia, are unique examples of buildings with dry masonry walls (without mortar). A similar prehistoric building technology is used in this region to the present day. "Trulli" are built from roughly worked limestone blocks collected from neighboring fields. They are characterized by pyramidal, domed or conical roofs, which are constructed from limestone slabs fastened together.
The walls are usually whitewashed, and the stone tiles on the roofs of houses are often painted with religious, pagan or magical symbols. They take their name from the Latin word "trulla", which means dome.
Alberobello is one of the most unusual places in Italy. This city is famous primarily for its unique houses, which are called "trullo", you will not see them anywhere else in the world. Trullo is a limestone house with a cone-shaped roof. Such a house is a traditional dwelling that can be seen in different parts of Puglia. The history of the appearance of trullo is also very interesting and remarkable - the inhabitants of the city came up with the shape of such houses in order not to pay taxes. Because of this unique shape of the houses, for a long time the city of Alberobello was an uninhabited place. The Italian government simply could not even think that someone could live in houses with conical roofs. Usually such buildings were diverse and differed from each other. The status of the city of Alberobello acquired in 1797, when the deception of the tax service stopped in the south of Italy.
Alberobello is located in the southern part of the country, in picturesque region Apulia. It should be noted that this Italian town for its beautiful architecture included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The main attraction of the city is, of course, the quarter with trullo houses. The city has many souvenir shops, small museums, cafes and restaurants where you can try delicious dishes. local cuisine. The main part of the city is typical of small Italian towns. The most interesting part of Alberobello is the area called Rione Monti, which has about 1000 trulli. Tourists can enter many of these houses and see their interiors.
Leaving behind the city's commercial center, moving along Via Monte Michele, you can walk to the 12th century trullo church Chiesa di Sant'Antonio. Another area of interest is Aia Piccola. There are few tourists here, but in this area you can see the life of the city as it was in the Middle Ages. In the Italian town there are also modern areas. Almost completely crosses Alberobello main avenue Corso Vittorio Emanuele. Restaurants and shops are scattered along the street. The main tourist square of the city is Piazza del Popolo, where under open sky there are tables.
The easiest way to get to Alberobello is from Bari, with which the Italian city is connected by rail and bus. The journey from Bari to Alberobello takes only two hours.
IN Alberobello unusual white houses are crowded on the narrow streets. There are restaurants and trulli shops and even a trulli cathedral. It is very easy to get inside - on the main streets of the city there are a whole series of souvenir shops (there are simply no buildings of other architecture, except for wonderful trulli). The hospitable owner-seller will be happy to show his house and his wealth and, of course, tell a lot of legends related to history hometown. True, in Italian. A brief translation goes something like this: Ferdinand of Aragon, king of Naples, gave one of his fiefs to the Acquaviva family of Conversano for suffering in the war against Turkey.
During the period of Spanish domination, the law forbade feudal lords to erect more or less serious buildings on their land without royal approval.
And trullo before the visit of royal officials was easy to disassemble (after all, they were created without the use of a binder solution, dry masonry is correctly called). To do this, with the help of three horses, directed in different directions, they removed the stone at the base of the roof, on which the whole house rested (the same cornerstone!). And the view of the "tax inspectors" opened a valley with piles of stones.
In 1979, the torment of local residents ended with the abolition of tax hardships. Now it is fashionable to buy a trullo as a dacha in our understanding. The cheapest, ruined house costs about 6 thousand euros per square meter.
There are trullo domes male And female kind. Wu" males"there are domes," pinaccolo ". Once they learned from them what kind of master built the house - it was a kind of brand.
In total, there are about 20 thousand trulli in Puglia, there are special cards, where all existing buildings are indicated. The first trullo was built in 1635, and in 1925 a law was passed to stop the construction of such houses. Because Alberobello is a unique and one of a kind city that has immortalized fairy houses.
Take a virtual walk around the city
Alberobello (Alberobello) - a miniature town, back in 1996 taken under the protection of UNESCO, is famous for its snow-white trulli houses. It's hard to believe, but it is precisely for the sake of these "estates for gnomes" that thousands of tourists come here. all year round. The trulli zone, located west of the city center, includes about one and a half thousand fairy-tale houses with cone-shaped roofs, many of which date back to the 14th century.
How to get there
The easiest way to get to Alberobello is by train from Bari (4-6 EUR, departure hourly, 1.5 hours on the way). There are also several trains a day from Taranto. Tickets must be punched before boarding. Upon arrival at the station, you must go straight along Via Mazzini, which will then turn into Via Garibaldi and end up in Piazza del Popolo. The Zona Monumentale Trulli signs will help you not to get lost. The journey takes no more than 15 minutes.
In addition, the city can be reached by your own car from the airport of Bari or Brindisi (about an hour on the way). On the way you can see a lot of pretty towns, for example, the snow-white Locorotondo (Locorotondo), Cisternio (Cisternino) or Ostuni (Ostuni), the baroque city of the 18th century Martina Franca (Martina Franca), the Romanesque Conversano (Conversano).
Prices on the page are for April 2019.
Search for flights to Bari (nearest airport to Alberobello)
Shopping and shops
In the Trulli area, right in the houses protected by UNESCO, there are a lot of souvenir shops where you can buy local products, such as cheeses, grappa, wine, olive oil, and handicrafts. For natural foods and wines, look for the Enoteca sign, such as Tholos Wine Bar (Monte st Michele 20) or L’Anima del Vino (Largo Marttellota 93). Also, if you happen to be in town on a Thursday, don't miss the vegetable market in Largo Martellotta Square, which is open until around noon.
Cuisine and restaurants
Alberobello has sheltered many delicious and unusual restaurants, both in the city center and on the outskirts (which are considered less popular with tourists, and therefore more valuable with inveterate gourmets).
In the center, you can look into the restaurant Casa Nova or La Cantina, which is located between the city hall and the basilica (Vico Lippolis, 9, on the corner of Corso Vittorio Emanuele). The latter has only 7 tables, one waiter, amazing cuisine and main dishes for 20 EUR. Locals prefer to go to Gli Ulivi, which is located in the vicinity of Alberobello, near Campo Sportivo (closed on Wednesdays). At Il Trullo Antico (Monte Pasubio 1-3) you can taste pizza, at Gallo d’Estate you can sit on the outdoor terrace.
Alberobello
Another "hidden gem" of the city of Trulli is the restaurant Il Trullo d'Oro (Via Cavallotti 27). You can drink wine and enjoy the sunny cuisine of the Puglia region in the Amatulli trattoria (a liter of wine from 4 EUR, dishes from 15 EUR, Via Garibaldi 13). Finally, two more places worthy of tourist lunch: the expensive Il Poeta Contadino with a medieval interior, where you can taste black truffles for 30 EUR (Via Indipendenza 21), and the modern Kave Club on the main square of Piazza del Popolo. They say that the service in the latter is simply terrible, but in the evenings it is not overcrowded here.
Guides to Alberobello
Popular hotels in Alberobello
Attractions and attractions in Alberobello
The trulli area in Alberobello is divided into two parts: the less commercial Rione Aia Piccola (meaning there are fewer cafes and shops) with about 400 trulli, and Rione Monti with about 1000 charming houses. In many of which, by the way, people still live.
It is worth saying a few words about the appearance of these fabulous shelters in the world. The trulli are built entirely of stone, without the use of any hitch materials. The roofs are made in the form of cones (from this their name came from trulli), at the top, like Christmas trees, there are stars, and the signs of the zodiac are painted on the roofs themselves. The first trullo was erected around the 14th century, and in 1925 a law was passed banning their construction. Although they say that you can buy a trulli house as a summer cottage to this day.
As the story goes, the erection of such buildings was not at all a spontaneous whim of the population of Apulia. The fact is that during the period of Spanish domination, the law forbade feudal lords to build any more or less serious dwellings on their land without the approval of the authorities. Trullo became a way out of the situation: before the visit of officials, such a house was very easy to dismantle. Since such houses were created without the use of a binder, it was enough for the efforts of only three horses directed in different directions, which removed a single stone at the base of the roof, for the house to collapse. Having “dismantled” at least half a village in half an hour, only valleys with piles of stones always opened before the king’s inspectors.
From May to October, Alberobello gets crowded with guides and tourists armed with DSLRs, who fill all the trulli houses, create queues in the trulli shops and snap up all the cold beer in the trulli bars.
In the trulli zone of Alberobello, you can just wander around, looking at the quaint buildings, running into cafes and souvenir shops, or you can look into the so-called local attractions. For example, in Trullo Sovrano (Trullo Sovrano). This house is located in the modern part of the city, as it was built in the 18th century. And he got the label of "monument" for two floors - this is the only two-story trullo that was built by a wealthy family of a local priest. Today, a small museum has been set up in Sovrano, the main exposition of which is the actual interior of the trullo, which gives an idea of how you can live in the “Lilliputian country” of Alberobello. Entrance fee 1.50 EUR, opening hours: 10-18:00. Address: Piazza Sacramento.
The second sight worth visiting is the Church of St. Anthony (Chiesa Sant'Antonio), which is located guess where? That's right, trullo. Perched atop the Rione Monti, this quirky trulli church was built with donations from American expatriates. Address: Via Monte San Michele.
