Trullis are an extraordinary example of man’s ingenuity and adaptability. They demonstrate how man was able to settle even in a place where house building was forbidden except for temporary shelter and where the only building material available was stone. The trullis were the ingenious solution found by the first farmers who came to set up home in the Selva at that time.
Alberobello was founded between 1400 and 1500 by some country dwellers sent there by the Counts of Conversano who owned the land. At that time, laws were in force that obliged every new settlement to have royal approval that was obtained after the payment of certain dues. In a shrewd move, the Counts of Conversano made their farmers set up their homes in what was an oak forest at that time and only allowed them to build temporary shelters that were certainly less stable than their mortar built counterparts elsewhere. This is where the trulli first started. They were drywall buildings which made them easier to dismantle or remove in the event of a royal audit which would then find no traces of an illegal settlement. This background of temporary buildings gradually became the history of a civilisation founded on dry stones.
Alberobello is the only town in the world that took life as a town of cone-shaped, drywall trullis.
The inhabitants of Alberobello were able to overcome difficult conditions over time, not least of which were the matters of hygiene and sanitation. However, in the words of Tommaso Fiore they were like "a nation of ants" who were able from the very start to transform their weak points into strengths and claim their place on the World Heritage List through the uniqueness and simple beauty of their history.
The group of "temporary" settlers were not able to do anything to secure their future until they made a direct appeal to the king of Naples, Ferdinand IV, asking his intervention to allow them the right to a dignified existence. On 27 May 1797, a royal decree was signed granting freedom to Alberobello and at long last the town could look forward to a stable future. The trullis are emblematic of this story and the overcoming of poverty and have become the greatest symbols of our cultural and economic strengths. The specialised restoration techniques used that observe architectural authenticity have left the trullis perfectly liveable and as living examples of biological architecture in action. You can experience the wonder of living in one of these unique places by renting a trulli and then feeling at one with yourself by contemplating, resting and rediscovering your core energy.
The community in Alberobello have been able to keep the two quarters intact as cited in the World Heritage List declaration issued from Merida in December 1996. The two quarters of Monti and Aia Piccola together with the Trullo Sovrano, the Casa D’Amore and the Casa Pezzolla make up the site perimeter of what is generally shown on the World Heritage List as as the "Trulli di Alberobello".
source: www.sitiunesco.it
