City of Alberobello

Alberobello is a town of 11,040 inhabitants of the Italian province of Bari, in Puglia. The city's name derives from the word "tree" because in ancient times there was a forest of oaks, and from the Latin word "bellum", or war, because the oak trees of the place were well suited to build machines of war.

Famous for its housing, called trulli, declared World Heritage by UNESCO in 1996, is part of the Valle d'Itria.

Monuments and places of interest are as follows:

TRULLI

The history of these very special buildings is linked to an edict of the Kingdom of Naples in the fifteenth century submitted to a tax each new urban settlements. The Counts of Conversano, owners of the land on which it stands today Alberobello, imposed then sent to the farmers in these dry lands to build without using mortar, their homes, so that they could take the form of precarious buildings, easy demolition.

They therefore use only stones, farmers found the round with a domed roof self-supporting, made of stacked stone circles, the simplest configuration, solid. The dome-shaped roofs of the trulli are embellished with decorative pinnacles, whose shape is inspired by the symbolic, mystical and religious.

They were made by the workers hired for the construction of the trulli and identified the craftsman. Depending on the quality of the pinnacle of the bill could therefore identify not only the skill of the craft manufacturer, but also the value of the building. Increased spending in the construction of the trulli therefore be detected, the better-off families from less affluent.

As for the symbols painted on the roofs of the trulli often take a religious significance, may sometimes be signs of the zodiac. Pinochle and symbol painted together formed a kind of civic identity, as long as Alberobello has denied official recognition by the Counts of Conversano.

TRULLO SOVRANO

The country's largest Trullo Trullo is called Sovereign. Perta built by the family in the middle of the eighteenth century, this two-story building is a museum and you can visit the interior, furnished in period style, reconstructed through the testimonies of the older inhabitants Alberobello. During the summer, the Sovereign Trullo hosts events such as plays, concerts, small orchestras and jazz bands, evenings of culture and poetry.

CASA PEZZOLLA

Up area in a central neighborhood between the Aia Piccola and Piazza del Popolo is located in the largest contiguous and adjoining trulli (fifteen) visit to Alberobello, the oldest of which date back to the eighteenth century. This housing complex, as identified by the name of the last House Pezzolla owners in 1986 was purchased by the town of Alberobello and between 1993 and 1997 has been fully restored.

Overall a trulli are two types of building fabric: a more recent overlooking Piazza XXVII Maggio and entirely, with a perspective effect monumental, spread over two floors, with tall, narrow front surmounted by a triangular pediment which highlights the section of the gable roof, covered by chiancarelle. The other fabric is the oldest and most influenced by the monumental area Small Hague.