The town of Alberobello (in Italian “bello” means beautiful) really deserves such a name. The town is almost entirely constructed of trulli houses and it’s a real pearl of Puglia.
Over 1500 traditional and unique trulli houses can be found in here altogether with the first one to be built back in the 14th century proudly decorating this town ever since. In 1996 the trulli of Alberobello were listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site.
These whitewashed stone huts with cone-shaped roofs can be found around the Valle d’Itria but Alberobello is the only town in the world born and developed as a town of trulli houses. It’s really unique and unlike any other place in the world.
The first normal/non-trullo house that was built here is now called Casa d’Amore and it was built as a symbol of the town’s liberty from feudalism in 1797.
THE LEGEND BEHIND THE TRULLI HOUSES
The reason for this cone stone roof was that inhabitants wanted to avoid paying high taxes charged by an old Spanish king that was managing the area in that period. The roof was made only with dry stones with nothing in between holding them together so when the tax collector came, people simply removed one stone brick and the entire roof came down. And as there is no house without the roof, no roof-no house-no taxes. After the tax collector left, they built the roof back up and they lived happilly ever after. At least as the legend says 🙂
The white symbols and pinnacles on the top of the roof were “used” to keep all the devils and bad demons away from the houses and keep the inhabitants safe.
TRULLO SOVRANO (entrance – 1,50EUR)
Trullo Sovrano is located in the historic center of Alberobello and it is the only two-storey trullo house. It is now reconstructed and open as a museum in order to show you how inhabitants used to live their rural life in the past here.
THE CHURCH OF ST. ANTHONY (THE TRULLO CHURCH)
The Church of St. Anthony is the only one of its kind (the only trullo church in the world) and it was built in 1927. It is open to the public so you can have a look and see for yourself how the only trullo church in the world looks like 🙂
THE SIAMESE TRULLO
The Siamese Trullo is one of the oldest one in town and the strangeness of it is attributed to the story about two brothers who lived here and fell in love with the same woman. At first, the woman was promised to marry the older brother but then she fell for the younger one. When the older brother found out, he kicked them both out. The younger brother didn’t want to accept his actions and wanted his trullo home back. In the end they decided to split the trullo in half and live in their separate halves.
The Siamese Trullo was restored in 1997 and nowadays it’s home to one of the local gift shops.
VIEWPOINTS
We found two amazing viewpoints from where you can see the entire Alberobello and its trulli houses from the top. One is called “Belvedere Santa Lucia” and the other one is actually a grocery store and a bar with a panoramic terrace and it’s called “Cassedda a Cummersa”.
WHERE TO EAT
Try some of the traditional local restaurants like Agriturismo Torrenuova, Ristorante il Pinnacolo or Trattoria Amatulli. If you enjoy tasting and discovering different kinds of dishes and drinks, you can book one of the food or wine tasting excursions that are quite popular attractions here.
ACCOMODATION
If you are planning to stay overnight, you can book and experience the night in a real trullo house. For example “Trulli e Puglia Resort”, “Charming Trulli”, “Romantic Trulli” or “Trulli Holiday Albergo Diffuso” and many more are giving you the possibility to spend a night in a beautiful trullo house like nowhere in the world.
HOW TO GET THERE
The closest airports are Bari and Brindisi (both 1h car drive away). Alberobello is a small town and can be visited in one day (or even in a few hours). We highly recommend to get there early in the morning before everyone else does because it might turn into a nightmare.
WHERE ELSE?
Alberobello is a perfect stop on your Puglia itinerary. If you want to stay in Alberobello and go somewhere just on a day trip, very close by are Locorotondo (10min), Martina Franca (20min) or Cisternino (25min).
If you decide for the entire Puglia road trip, make sure you check out our
Polignano A Mare travel guide http://borntotraveldiaries.com/polignano-a-mare-travel-guide/
and
Ostuni travel guide http://borntotraveldiaries.com/ostuni-travel-guide/
We hope this blog post was helpful to you and you are gonna have a great time while visiting Alberobello. For more pictures and videos check our story highlight (Alberobello). If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to comment bellow or contact us via email or even better via Instagram @borntotraveldiaries Thank you for your time and stay tuned for our next diary page 🙂.
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