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September 1 - Alberobello is a delightful small town in Puglia, in the South of Italy,

with something special: a town center entirely made of trulli, fairytale-looking houses

so unique, they made Alberobello UNESCO world heritage sites!

ABOVE LEFT - The trulli, typical limestone dwellings of Alberobello in the south of Puglia,

are remarkable examples of corbelled dry-stone construction, a prehistoric building technique

still in use in this region. Although rural trulli can be found all along the Itria Valley, their highest

concentration and best preserved examples of this architectural form are in the town of Alberobello.

ABOVE MIDDLE - There are over 1500 structures in the quarters of Rione Monti

and Aja Piccola. Trulli are traditional dry stone huts with a corbelled roof.

ABOVE RIGHT - The trulli pinnacles come in different designs and represent the trademark of the stonemason who built that particular trullo

ABOVE LEFT -  Trulli were generally constructed as temporary field shelters and

storehouses or as permanent dwellings by small-scale landowners or agricultural laborers.

ABOVE MIDDLE - Trulli were constructed from roughly worked limestone excavated on-site

 in the process of creating sub-floor cisterns and from boulders collected from nearby fields and

rock outcrops. Characteristically, the buildings are rectangular forms with conical corbelled roofs.

ABOVE RIGHT - The whitewashed walls of the trulli are built using a dry-stone wall

technique (that is, without use of mortar or cement). We're in the Aia Piccola

side of town (residential). The Rione Monti district is in the background.

ABOVE LEFT -  The walls comprise a double skin with a rubble core. A doorway and small

windows pierce the walls. An internal fireplace and alcoves are recessed into the thick walls.

ABOVE MIDDLE - The feeling of the neighborhoods remind us of the Cotswolds

in England, but with stone roofs instead of thatched roofs.

ABOVE RIGHT - Water is collected via projecting eaves at the base of the roof

which divert water through a channelled slab into a cistern beneath the house.

ABOVE LEFT -  The roofs are also double-skinned, comprising a domed inner skin of

wedge-shaped stone (used in building an arch or vault) capped by a closing stone;

and a watertight outer cone built up of corbelled limestone slabs, known as chianche

or chiancarelle.Many of the roofs often bear mythological or religious markings in

 white ash and terminate in a decorative pinnacle whose purpose

is to ward off evil influences or bad luck.

ABOVE MIDDLE - Scattered rural settlements were present in the area of present day

Alberobello around one thousand years ago (1,000 AD). The settlements gradually

grew to form the villages of present day Aia Piccola and Monti.

ABOVE RIGHT - The appearance of these buildings had to be deliberately precarious

to give the idea of buildings that could be easily demolished in the event of an inspection.

After an initial settlement of about 40 trulli, there was a major expansion in 1620.

It was not until 1797 that Alberobello was freed from all tax claims and feudal servitude

to the Counts by decision of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, King of Naples.

But the tradition of the trulli has never stopped.

ABOVE LEFT -  A trullo can only be handled by a good master trullaro. This ancient profession

transmitted itself father to son, until it slowly dissolved.

Today finding a good trullaro is a difficult task but not impossible

thanks to many willing young people who are rediscovering the ancient crafts.

ABOVE MIDDLE - The photo says it all. What more can you want?

ABOVE RIGHT - Monti is the section of town with the largest concentration of nearly

1000 trulli. Most now operate as shops, restaurants, museums and attract hordes of tourists.

It felt almost like Disneyland so we moved to the non-touristy section of town fast!

ABOVE LEFT -  We're being pampered tonight at Le Alcove trulli hotel built in the 1600s

(but recently remodeled)

ABOVE MIDDLE - Inside our room

ABOVE RIGHT - Upstairs loft in our trulli. Watch your head!

ABOVE LEFT -  There was supposed to be a light show at this

Basilica S. S. Cosma E Damiano, but apparently it was cancelled.

ABOVE MIDDLE - Chefs hard at work at our restaurant for the evening.

ABOVE RIGHT - No better end to the evening than a chocolate souffle.