Travel
The Pleasure of Puglia | Trulli
Thursday, October 08, 2015
There is probably nothing that signals your arrival in Puglia more than the iconic sight of a trullo, the unique conical constructions found in the southern Murgia area of the peninsula.
Trulli have been around for many hundreds of years, though the oldest surviving
ones date back only to the 16th century. The probable reason for this is that they
were generally built as temporary dry-stone accommodation that could be
dismantled whenever necessary. This was usually when the property tax collectors
came to town, and to their surprise when they arrived at Locorotondo, Alberobello or
Fasano they only found mounds of rubble and virtually no houses. As soon as the
inspectors went away, the trulli would spring up again and the locals would move
back in.
A typical trullo has a cylindrical base with a conical limestone-tiled roof. Though built
without cement, their thick white-painted stone walls ensured coolness in the
summer and warmth in the winter. The roof was often painted with an evil eye, a
cross or an astronomical symbol and topped by an ornamental flourish.
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