A "Trulli" Unique Piece of Architecture

There we were - my daughter and I - relaxing on the couch on a Saturday evening, and watching The Hobbit for what seemed like the 10th or 11th time. The scenes in the Hobbit village always brought the same response from my little girl: "It would be so cool to live in a house like that!" I replied that Hobbit houses truly existed, and not too far from where we lived. "Yeah, right Dad…" was her reply, and we continued to lose ourselves in the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and Co.

The next day I woke my daughter up early and we hit the road. Our destination: the countryside surrounding the small towns of Fasano and Alberobello, both about 40 kilometers north of the port city Brindisi. It is there; nestled in and about the fertile, rolling hills of the Puglia region in Italy, that visitors can gaze upon the famous Trulli houses. Small stone structures with conical roofs, many with weather-vanes depicting the sun and moon, built without mortar and still standing after a thousand years. Many passed down from generation to generation.

I took the Fasano exit and headed into the vast countryside laid out before me. A few minutes later I was steering my truck through the hills and olive trees so typical of the area. Poking through the treed just ahead of us stood a cluster of cone-shaped roofs. The tallest in the center with a metal Sun symbol on it. "Now tell me that's not a Hobbit House," I commented and watched my daughter's mouth gape open. If only she'd been 5 years old instead of 11, I'd really have been able to milk this opportunity.

The exact history of the Trullo (singular) has been lost to the sands of time. What is known, is that farmers in this particular part of the Puglia Region built these structures without mortar from the tuffa stone so prevalent in the area. In the period from about 2000 to 1000 BC trulli houses started to appear. Legend has it, that the Trulli were built without mortar as a matter of economics. According to tax laws at the time, a house wasn't a house if wasn't held together with mortar. So when word hit that "the tax man cometh" the trulli could be easily dismantled. You couldn't get taxed on something that wasn't there! This story has been told and retold so many times and with so many variations that it's become fact. A kind of Trulli-urban legend if you will.

It takes some digging, but you can still chance upon single family Trulli. One Trullo is distinguished by it's conical roof. Inside there is little, if no accommodation. Within the circular space of the Trullo you can find an alcove or two or three. Areas cordoned off for sleeping and cooking. The roof of the Trullo was constructed in two layers, an inner consisting of limestone, the outer by tuffa stone. Creating a structure that was not only leak-proof, but warm in the winter and cool in the summer. As families grew, the Trullo would grow exponentially. It's not strange to see a cluster of conical roofs poking up among a cluster of trees, only to find that the cones are all connected creating a larger abode.

For my money, the Fasano countryside is the place to be to really enjoy the trulli presence. There are a half dozen other small townships as well in the general area, and collectively they provide a landscape for these homes in what I call their "natural surroundings".

Just a few miles farther north sits the town of Alberobello, which is all the more famous for it's Trulli. In fact, at the Alberobello exit on the autostrada, visitors can see a sign proclaiming the area to be "The Land of the Trulli". There is a large concentration of Trulli in this town, but most have been refurbished and turned into boutiques, coffee bars and the like. Still, it's a great opportunity to see a kind of architecture that not only doesn't exist anymore, but that's being rapidly snatched up by foreigners who are converting the structures into Bed and Breakfasts establishments. I chat with Mario, a local merchant in "Trulli Town" who comments, "About fifteen years ago, before the arrival of the euro, you could find a Trullo for about 30 or 40,000 lira. No one wanted them! You couldn't give them away! They were in the middle of nowhere and unless you were a farmer, no one had the foresight to see any use for them. But now…." His voice trails off.

So what happened? In Southern Italy, the "Bed and Breakfast" boom kicked in about 5 or 6 years ago. Someone rolled the dice on making a "Trulli Bed and Breakfast", the concept was a hit, and pretty soon these little "Hobbit Homes" were being picked up at bargain prices. And not by the locals. English and German investors seem to be the biggest customers. And these days, if you're even lucky enough to find a Trullo for sale, the median price sits at a about 100,000 - 120,000 euro. AAaak! In fact, many Trulli that perhaps sat abandoned and ignored by owners for years, are now suddenly being rented out on a weekly or even monthly basis and for big money!

All this was lost on my daughter, and it wouldn't have matter anyway. Why ruin a great adventure with tales of skyrocketing real estate prices? My kid was happy enough to see the Trulli up close and personal. To go inside and see how families of long ago used to live, and how some still do to this day. What's interesting about the Trulli is they only exist in this particular area. Go farther south to the cities of Brindisi, Lecce or beyond and you won't find them. Go farther north to Bari or Foggia, and the Trulli disappear from view.

A "Trulli" unique example of architecture in and one of the Puglia region's claims to fame. Attracting tourists, vacationers and yes - investors to this part of Italy all year round.

"Dad, can we buy one of these?" is the last thing that comes from my daughter before we get back on the road and head for home.