The Trulli of Alberobello, Southern Italy

Amongst the Trulli

Like so many noddy houses the Trulli begin to appear as the roads wind into the countryside around Alberobello. This is the Itria Valley area of Apulia in the south east region of southern Italy. Here the countryside is rolling and green.

Trulli are the most unique of homes - as unique as you will see anywhere in Italy, maybe in Europe. These small homes are sometimes grey-toned the colour of concrete, and sometimes whitewashed in the purest of white on white. The roofs are sometimes concrete topped, but more often they are a mound of stacked shingles in their various earthen colours. Dark toned wooden doors and small shuttered windows make these singular dwellings as similar as peas in a pod. In the countryside the Trulli are sometimes single, but more often clustered in groups of three or four. The countryside is dotted with these. From vantage points looking out across the Itria Valley there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of these small humped roofs visible.

Alberobello is the heart of Trulli country. The prettiest of towns in itself, the Trulli quarter is completely unique to Alberobello. It is as surprising as a traditional African village might be in the middle of a city. The Trulli cluster up a low hillside, roofs rising one above the other. Small lanes of flagstones weave in between the Trulli. Tourists are drawn like magnets to this enclave and many of the Trulli have been converted inside to small shops and homestays. On the interior the spaces may be compact but are still full of charm.


In the summer the minimal windows mean that the interiors with their thick plastered walls, remain cool and agreeable. In the high dome roofs there is usually a mezzanine platform reached by a tall ladder. The platform was the sleeping space in the traditional Trulli home. The larger Trulli were built close together with one merging into the other to create extended more usable family living spaces. Often there were traditional Mediterranean flat roofed homes built around Trulli, with the domed roofs poking through the flat surrounds to provide the distinctive conical cap. Many of these still survive in the fields surrounding Alberobello.










Originally Trulli were built as animal shelters, grain stores and peasant homes. Increasingly abandoned in the late twentieth century it was only essentially tourism which saved the Trulli from destruction. Today Trulli are refurbished for visitors to the region and for business, but few are still lived in as homes of choice by the locals. Now under the protection of Unesco as a World Heritage Site, the Trulli village of Alberobello is thriving once more. In the surrounding villages of Locorotondo and Martina Franca many clusters of Trulli also remain.

Across the fields on the roads leading out of the region Trulli become more and more scattered, some in varying stages of abandonment and disrepair. Others are still well looked after. And then as fast as they began to appear in the countryside, they disappear as you leave this distinctive region of southern Italy behind.

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Urbino, the Marché District, Northern Italy

Urbino - The University Town

The once great city of Urbino remains a cornerstone of the Marché in north eastern Italy. Still important in its own right as a center of learning, its significant past is preserved in the history of those imposing ancient buildings which guard the footpaths. The palaces of Urbino are dignified and impressive. Their grey stone walls create a fortified frontage to the streets. They are buildings which express power rather than exuberance and demand respect rather than delight.

Urbino - like many of the great Italian walled cities - was planned to repel invaders and to be defended and defensible. The centuries provide a chronicle of many attacks, - some successfully resisted and some succumbed to. It is the history built into these stern walls which is recognised in Urbino’s status as a World Heritage Site.


From early in the twentieth century Urbino began to grow as a centre of learning, and today it is still known chiefly as a university town. The quiet streets in the early morning attest to its seasonal student population. With an emphasis on study and learning even to this day, the large historic buildings have been able to be put to good use and preserved. Glimpses of modern facilities within historic walls can be seen from the streets. The occasional cafe or picturesque craft shop also spills out from a palazzo here and there to add a splash of life and colour to what could otherwise be a stern streetscape.

Close to Urbino is the Fortress Sassocorvaro  -  an almost windowless castle with high rounded protective walls. The Fortress earned its fame as L’Arca del Arte - the Arc of Art. It is here that many of Italy’s great works of art were secreted during the Second World War, to protect and save them from the desecration of the Nazi war machine as it swept through Italy during the later stages of the war. Up to 10,000 works of art were saved in this way, including works by Bellini and Raphael.

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