Trulli (the plural form) are structures with gray stone cone-shaped roofs. They’re found in Bari and Tarano in the Puglia region of Italy. There are over 400 trulli in the town of Alberobello, considered to be the “trulli capital”.
The origin of these oddly shaped houses is unknown. Traditionally, trulli were built without any cement or mortar. One of the more popular theories is that because of high taxation on property, the people of Puglia created trulli so that they could be dismantled and moved out of sight when the taxman was in the area. Then they would put them back together once the taxman was gone.
Today, trulli have solid foundations. No hiding from the taxman anymore!! The stone used to build a trullo helps to keep the house cool in the hot Italian summer. The outside of the cone is built from chiancarelle (stone slabs) of different sizes that serve as roofing tiles.
As you can see in the pictures, there’s typically a pinnacoli (pinnacle) at the top of each trullo’s cone. The significance of the pinnacoli is still unclear. Some people believe it gives magic powers. Others believe it represents the family that lives in the trullo.
Sketches of pinnacoli (from www.alberobello.blogspot.com):
Many cones have symbols painted on them. The symbols are painted with lime. Legend has it that they were painted for magical or propitiatory rites. The meaning of some common symbols are to protect the family living in the trullo from the evil eye, the worship of some deity, and the hope for a good harvest.
From left to right are Primitive, Christian, and Magic symbols (from www.alberobello.blogspot.com):
Now let’s take a peek inside and look up some trulli cones…
Some pretty trulli exteriors…
The interior of a restored trullo might surprise you…
The trullo in the following pictures is Villa Santoro (featured on www.villapuglia.com). Villa Santoro recently underwent a complete renovation and rebuild by an Austrian designer and a Milanese architect team. It combines and retains the Trullo and Masseria styles typical and unique to the area. Many of the original trullo features have been maintained, including the original stonework and vaulted ceilings. The interior is clean and minimal, but the stone gives it character and warmth.
The bright & light interior…
The backyard isn’t too shabby either!!
Beautiful blue skies…
The sun is setting on Villa Santoro…
I hope you enjoyed visiting these trulli unique Italian houses as much as I did :-)
Read about a trullo restoration here:
www.mmenterprises.co.uk/blog/labels/trulli.htm
Sources:
16 comments:
Stunning! I really enjoy this kind of entries. When we have opportunity to learn something new about the world. If you like this kind of buildings you need to check out the BANCOS adobe mosques from Africa - very similar architecture but more organic in shape.
Beautiful
Like a fairytale village, Ivan is right they do look like the mosques.
Love the interiors of the renovated villas
These are beautiful. I've never seen this type of home, how unique. The restored villa is magnificent, but my favorite is the white with the blue doors, just stunning. Kathy
Ahhhhh, thanks for the virtual vacation Kelly. Puglia's being hailed as "the new Tuscany" by the tour package operators, so get there to see the real deal soon before the region gets turned into a theme park. In the meantime, you can go there now and actually stay in a trullo. Boy oh boy that sounds enticing!
I have never heard of this before - so BEAUTIFUL!!!
~angela @ peonypatch
My gosh they're beautiful!!!! I've never read about them before and was surprised to love the insides as much as the outsides!! awesome find!!
I've never heard this before, but I'm in love. Those last couple of pictures really did it for me. So pretty and different.
These are amazing!! I love the symbols. What a fun and educational post and I admire all the research it took you to put this post together. Well done!!!
Patricia
this style of structure is new to me...lots of good info. I love the simplicity and the symbols on top...great post... Fay
Beautiful! I love the texture of the stone and the bright white walls. And the view from inside is spectacular. I would love visit them (sigh) Thanks for sharing! - Marie
GORGEOUS!!! Loved those pictures. What beautiful homes!
Thanks!
Oh wow, They are so beautiful and incredibly charming. What a great post.
I've never seen these before. Very cool!
I just got back from Puglia and am in LOVE with the trulli! So many still available to restore with prices still reasonable, though I understand they were practically giving them away 10 years back!! I picked up a great book while in Ostuni, a BEAUTIFUL town near Alberobello, which is a whole town full of trulli, called "Trulli - Living & Hosting" which has tons of beautiful photographs of restored and well-decorated trulli homes.
I just can't stop looking at them!
Your blog is the best description I've seen of them; great job!
Really glad you liked my Villa in Puglia, Villa Santoro. I now have a business renting only the finest villas in the region as well as my own. As you can see from the website, some are similar, others very different, but all stylish and luxurious in one way or another.
Let me know if you want to enjoy any of them 'in the flesh'
Ciao
John
Kelly.
Thanks for the link. Buying and restoring our trulli was an epic but absolutely worth it. It took 18 months to complete the purchase and two and a half years to carry out the restoration.
Our architect, Daniele Corsaro, did a beautiful and sympathtic restoration. We ended up with one house for us and one available as a holiday let. That area is beautitiful and we plan to downshift there in a couple of years time.
Ciao!
Mark.
http://www.mmenterprises.co.uk/blog/labels/trulli.htm
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.