Alberobello, Italy Walking Tour - 4K - with Captions - Prowalk Tours
Welcome to Alberobello, a town in the southern Italian region of Apulia, most famous for its characteristic small buildings called trulli. We have just walked down the Scalinata dell’Amore (Stairs of Love), decorated with love poems in Italian. Alberobello is a small town, home to 10,735 inhabitants. From here, you can see the bell tower of the Church of Santa Lucia e Santissimo Sacramento next to which lies a little square with a beautiful view, where we started this walk.
The historic center of Alberobello is filled with curious small buildings with conical roofs. These buildings are called trulli and are a form of architecture unique to this zone of Italy. The buildings are intrinsically linked to the origins of the settlement of Alberobello. Compared to many towns in Italy, Alberobello is a relatively “new” settlement. Settlers first came to this area in the early 16th century following orders from Count of Conversano, a nearby town, Andrea Matteo III Acquaviva d’Aragona.
Count Andrea Matteo permitted 40 poor families from the town of Noci to move to the area and cultivate the land. The Count required the peasants to give him a tenth of the produce from their crops. Under Andrea Matteo’s successor, Count Giangirolamo II, the area began to develop into a settlement. In the early 17th century, Giangirolamo ordered the building of an inn, a tavern and an oratory as well as a few small dwellings.
The urban settlement began to expand thanks to the abundance of building materials like limestone in the area. Under Giangirolamo, the first trulli began to be built. I decided to buy one of these towels here against the back wall. :) Only one euro! The now-iconic trulli bear their peculiar form thanks to some sneaky tax evasion.
Count Giragirolamo permitted inhabitants to build houses in the area, but he didn’t want to have to pay taxes on them. At the time, he would have had to pay taxes to the Spanish viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples. This was according to a 15th-century edict from the Kingdom of Naples that required all new settlements to pay a contribution. To avoid paying tax, Count Giangirolamo allowed houses to be built using only dry walls without mortar. As such, the dwellings would be considered precarious buildings and could even be demolished with ease should tax inspectors arrive.
As such, the peasants had to find a building form that would remain stable using just stones. They discovered that a rectangular form with a self-supporting domed roof was the easiest structure to build. This resulted in the formation of the trullo made from limestone boulders with a conical roof of corbelled limestone slabs. You may have noticed that at the top of the conical roofs there are sandstone pinnacles that vary in form. Some of the common forms are a disk, a ball, a cone, a bowl, a polyhedron, or a combination of these forms.
These were decorative additions that acted as a “signature” of the architect. As we will see throughout the walk, you can see inside many of the trulli which are now shops or galleries. In Alberobello, there are not many trulli that are still used by residents as houses. Here you can get a good view of the interior of the traditional conical roof, which is the inner skin while on the exterior there are limestone slabs. Miniature models of trulli are popular souvenirs to take home.
The center of Alberobello was built on the ancient river Cana. It lay where the wide main street Largo Giuseppe Martelotta, where we are currently walking, now runs. Although there are trulli scattered throughout the countryside in this area, Alberobello is the only inhabited center with a whole district composed entirely of trulli. Alberobello is considered the cultural capital of the trulli of the Itria valley. The trulli of Alberobello were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. The UNESCO designation described the houses as “remarkable examples of drywall (mortarless) construction, a prehistoric building technique still in use in this region.”
Dry stone building is a technique found across the Mediterranean that is thousands of years old. There were rural settlements dotted around this area as far back as 1000 years ago. In describing Alberobello’s trulli, UNESCO says, “the persistence of traditional building techniques, together with the fact that trulli are still inhabited make this property an exceptional Historic Urban Landscape.” The building process involved excavating cisterns and using the stone removed to build the structures.
Water is collected through channels that lead to the cistern beneath the house. Under Count Giangirolamo, the area was home to around forty trulli by the mid 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, there were over 3500 people living in this area. The church of Sant’Antonio di Padova was built in 1926. The main dome of the church is 18 meters high.
Behind the altar is a fresco by a famous artist from the Apulia region, Adolfo Rollo. The church was built using mortar but in the same style as Alberobello’s traditional buildings. The priest of the church supposedly wanted people living in the surrounding trulli to be able to worship in a place that resembled their homes.
I think there were so many people inside because of the extreme heat this day. 99°F/37°C is too hot for me! The roofs of trulli often feature mythological or religious symbols marked in white ash to ward off evil. Along via Monte Pertica, where we are now, the trulli have been decorated with a cross, a pierced heart, a host with rays, a tree, a dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit and a crescent with a cross.
These were added in the late 20th century and early 2000s when the buildings were being renovated. The cross and heart pierced with an arrow are common religious symbols along with a circle and the letters S C S D probably standing for Santa Cosma and San Damiano. There are still some trulli in Alberobello in need of restoration. Most, however, have been transformed for commercial, i.e. Instagram, or accommodation purposes. The ladderes were used to access the upper lofts in the home which is often where the children slept. It was the warmest part of the house. As early as the late 20th century local craftsman, Guido Antionetta, began buying up several abandoned trulli and transforming them into mini-apartments for guest accommodation.
In the countryside, trulli were often built in groups of up to five for families. I had to wait here a long time for "my turn." :) I was standing back to get wide view but people kept walking in front to get their pictures. It took a while to get an opening. The walls of the trulli range from 0.80 meters to 2.70 meters while the height ranges from 1.60 meters to 2 meters. 1797 brought the end of feudal rule and the first city council. Ferdinand IV, Bourbon King of Naples, awarded to Alberobello the status of royal town.
By the end of the 18th century, numbers of newly constructed trulli had declined. There are over 1600 trulli currently still standing in Alberobello. The trulli of Alberobello are concentrated in two zones, Rione Monti where we were previously and Rione Aia Piccola where we are now. This side of town seems to be a little less touristy. I liked it. On this day, I arrived early in the morning so I could walk all around the town and map out my walk. I had never been here before.
During that time, I found this house up ahead which a private owner has turned into a small museum. The owner was a very nice old man and we ended up talking for quite a while. When I arrived this time during the walk, his wife was here. She didn't know I had already been here and looked around once already. She wanted to talk...but I was trying to keep quiet. :)
The ladder leads up to the loft where their children slept. Some trulli have been opened as small museums. I should have peaked inside the bathroom..but it felt like I was looking around her personal space. :)
She followed me out of the house and walked me down to this next area and kept right now talking. :) I had to come back and start again after she went back inside with the next guests. :) Very friendly. Oh no! She's coming back! :) Saved by the tourists! Alberobello literally means “beautiful tree” in Italian. One possible theory behind the name has been developed by historian Pietro Gioia, though with little firm evidence.
Gioia suggested the the name Alberobello derives from Silva alboris belli, meaning of "forest of the war tree". Despite the lack of documentation, this theory has long been endorsed by later historians. Here is another trullo set up to show its original residential use.
Arched alcoves would once have been used as sleeping areas separated from the main room by curtains. A conservation report carried out in 2007 found that 30% of trulli were in commercial use mostly as tourist accommodation, 40% were abandoned and 30% were in residential use. Those in residential use were concentrated in the Rione Aia Piccola.
Regarding the name Alberobell, later studies note that the first name with which the locality was known was Silva Alborelli. This name appears on the oldest document known to scholars dating from May 15, 1481, in which King Ferrante of Aragon assigned the assets of the late Count of Conversano Giulio Antonio I Acquaviva d'Aragona to his illiterate son Andrea Matteo. In 1797, alternatives to the name Alberobello were also proposed, including Ferrandina in honor of King Ferrante of Aragon and Ferdinandina in honor of King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon.
The UNESCO designation notes that one of the threats to the authenticity of the trulli is their reuse as tourist accommodation. In general, however, the trulli are remarkably well-preserved thanks to strict conservation regulations. There is a General Housing Plan in place in Alberobello that prevents residents from making inappropriate additions or modifications to the historic buildings. Only traditional lime whitewash is permitted for external decoration. As an architectural ensemble, Alberobello is remarkably intact and the trulli are “a clearly recognizable and distinctive group” according to UNESCO. UNESCO remarked that even the street layout is commendably authentic.
In accordance with local legislation, it is illegal to demolish, reconstruct, add floors, or construct fake trulli. Now we are going to walk up the street to the Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian and end the walk with a tour of the Trullo Sovrano museum. If you are still watching, I would appreciate it if you would leave a LIKE on the video. If you are not already a subscriber, please consider clicking that button. Grazie mille! Local crafts are very important, including iron-working and constructing olive wood baskets.
Another artisanal tradition is textile art and it is possible to buy linen garments in shops located inside trulli in the Rione Monti. Typical local food specialties include pettole, a kind of fried dough, and almond biscuits. This basilica and sanctuary is dedicated to Saints Cosma and Damiano, patron saints of Alberobello. The cult of Saints Cosma and Damiano was introduced in 1636 by Count Giangirolamo.
Cosmas and Damian were third century Arabian-born twin brothers who embraced Christianity and practised medicine and surgery without a fee. This led them to be known as the holy unmercenaries, the Anargyroi (without silver). The church was constructed in the Neoclassical style and has a Latin cross plan. The church was built to replace a small chapel dating from 1609. The church opened for worship on September 20, 1885, although construction was still largely incomplete at this time.
The interior of the nave was completed at the end of the 19th century, while the apse was completed at the beginning of the 20th century. The bishop of nearby Conversano, Monsignor Gregorio Falconieri, recognized the church as a sanctuary on September 12, 1938, and on February 18, 2000, Pope John Paul II designated it a minor basilica. The church houses the relics of Saints Cosma and Damiano whose feast days are celebrated on 27 and 28 September. The Trullo Sovrano is one of Alberobello’s most notable buildings.
This trullo was declared a national monument in 1923. This trullo is of note because it is the only one in the town that has two floors. I had been here early in the day too. :) Here is a loom that would have traditionally been used to produce textiles. This trullo was built by a wealthy priest’s family with some parts of the building dating to the 17th century. This trullo has the thickest walls recorded, measured as 2.70 meters thick.
It now functions as a small “living” museum that aims to demonstrate everyday life in the past. They have recreated the bedroom, kitchen and bakery. In the souvenir shop, you can find books about the history of the town and architecture as well as traditional recipe books.
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2022-01-29 07:32
