BARI, Italy - 4 of 4

History of Trulli houses
According to UNESCO, the trulli of Alberobello date back to the mid-fourteenth century. They can be found at many locations in and around the Itria Valley, but their highest concentration is in the quarters of Rione Monti and Aja Piccola in Alberobello.

How are Trulli houses built?
Trulli are built using a dry stone construction method, evidence of which dates back thousands of years in areas across the Mediterranean.

This is a large part of what makes trulli so unique. Unlike other forms of masonry, dry stone construction does not use mortar or cement. Instead, the builders of the trulli carefully selected rocks, a mixture of limestone excavated onsite and boulders collected from the surrounding area. They chose the rocks for their weight and shape, and fitted them into place expertly, creating a stable structure by allowing each stone to rest on and support each other.

This style of construction is a testament to the ingenuity of Puglia’s historical inhabitants, and the sight of the coned roofs still standing all these centuries later serves as a reminder of the region's rich history. More than this, it also provides excellent thermal insulation, keeping the interior of each trullo warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Why were Trulli Houses built?
While the trulli today make the perfect luxury villas in Italy, they were originally built with a quite different purpose in mind.

Perhaps the most popular explanation for the unique construction and prevalence of the trulli is that they were built as an early form of tax avoidance. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, around the time that the first trulli houses in Puglia started to show up, the region’s rulers began levying high taxes on property.

Residents were none too pleased. But they couldn’t simply do without dwellings. They settled on an unconventional solution: why not pretend that they didn’t have any permanent residences at all?

They began to avoid mortar in favour of dry stone construction, for the simple reason that dry stone dwellings are easier to dismantle. When the early inhabitants of the trulli heard the tax collectors were approaching, they could remove the roofs and perhaps even take down their houses altogether. They could then avoid having to pay the onerous property tax. And when the tax collectors moved on, they could simply rebuild their homes.

While this is just one theory for the emergence of the trulli, it is an entertaining one - and one that highlights the creativity and inventiveness of the historical people of Puglia.Lue lisää