Wedding in Puglia: history and tradition of the Trulli houses
If you are looking for a dreamy wedding location that takes you back in time and into the history of Italy, Apulia is for you.
With its Masserie, typical farmhouses where wine and extra virgin olive oil were produced, and its Trulli houses, getting married in Apulia will be a unique experience of good wine and excellent local food.
Not only will you be able to taste some excellent local delicacies, but you will also have the opportunity to get married in Italian locations that have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as Alberobello.
Admiring Alberobello from above gives the impression of a fairy-tale village, inhabited by elves, but instead, it is the product of human ingenuity.
Nestled between the Murgia hills and the Valle d’Itria, its historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and consists solely of Trulli. Built of dry limestone, they inevitably stand out thanks to their white walls and conical roofs decorated with symbolic motifs, such as the moon, the sun, and the cross.
What are Trulli in Puglia and where do they come from?
The origin of Trulli is rooted in the agricultural past of medieval Apulia. Today they are great destinations for holidays, weddings, or investments to buy.
Some scholars believe they were already present in the 14th century, but it was in the 15th century that they had their greatest expansion, coinciding with an edict of the Kingdom of Naples that imposed taxes on every new urban settlement.
The people’s ingenuity led them to devise buildings that could be easily demolished, and when the king’s delegate was about to arrive to collect the taxes, all he had to do was remove the keystone and the houses were transformed into heaps of stones.
In the Trulli district, only the town of Alberobello has two districts entirely made up of Trulli: Rione Monti and Rione Aia Piccola, which have been national monuments since the beginning of the last century and have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The Trulli of Alberobello follow one another, along narrow streets and lanes paved with “chianche”, creating landscapes and magical atmospheres that are truly unique and unrepeatable.
The construction technique
Today, they are as yet utilized as homes and are the subject of persistent examinations by global specialists and planners (some of whom have even attempted to imitate them somewhere else). A shrewd illustration of unconstrained engineering, the trullo is based on a strong base (see the exceptionally thick dividers) onto which the weighty lime brickwork is joined.
Old development strategies give life to construction which, albeit without supporting components, has a remarkable static limit.
The arrangement of the trullo is generally roundabout and the inside spaces are dispersed around the focal room. The thickness of the dividers and a couple of windows guarantee an ideal warm equilibrium: warm in winter and cool in summer. The cornerstone is vital, regularly shut by a brightening zenith with recondite, otherworldly, or propitiatory themes.
The molding projecting from the rooftop was intended to gather water in extraordinary reservoirs, while the outer advances permitted the cones to be filled (essentially where it was conceivable) from above with straw and grain. The structure materials were poor, as a matter of fact, in the Trulli, there is no hint of concrete except for just mortar and nearby limestone.
The master trullaro
A trullo must be taken care of by an expert trullaro. This antiquated art has been given over from father to child, until it gradually disappeared. Today, finding an expert trullaro is a challenging errand, yet not feasible, on account of many willing youngsters who are rediscovering antiquated specialties.
In the heart of Alberobello: how to visit the Trulli
Alberobello is a town to be visited on foot, losing oneself in the slightly uphill alleys that make up the labyrinth of Trulli and immersing oneself in the almost fairytale-like atmosphere that one breathes.
Listed among the “Borghi più belli d’Italia” (Italy’s most beautiful villages), Alberobello is characterized by the trulli of Rione Monti, lined up slightly uphill to form a wonderful and unique village, where time seems to have stopped.
The district of Rione Monti includes over 1,000 trulli and is enlivened by many craft shops and small restaurants and taverns, which are located inside the trulli, and which allow appreciation of the extraordinary typical products of this area, such as handicrafts.
The trulli, however, can take various forms and be more or less well preserved: some can be visited inside and offer the possibility of understanding how people used to live and what their daily habits were at the time.
Not to be missed are the narrow streets leading to the beautiful church of S. Antonio da Padova, also known as the ‘Chiesa a Trullo’, which stands at the top of the village.
If you want to admire the Rione Monti from above and enjoy a special view, you can go to the belvedere terrace in Piazza Gian Girolamo d’Acquaviva d’Aragona: the view from here is exceptional, both during the day and at night, when the town looks like an illuminated nativity scene.
Trulli today: a wonderful place to discover
Today, trulli are profoundly pursued by travelers from everywhere in the world as remarkable style properties, ideal both as a vacation home and as a venture, much popular among unfamiliar purchasers who wish to profit from the developing interest in the travel industry in the Puglia district.
Trulli are a very well-known decision among those wishing to spend their days off in Puglia. A huge number of individuals consistently decide to encounter an occasion in one of these cone-molded houses, submerging themselves in the set of experiences and customs of the past hundreds of years, in close contact with the quiet idea of the Apulian open country, appreciating the differentiation of red earth with olive forests and the dark blue sky.
The conventional Trulli has been reestablished as extravagant occasional homes, with rich and present day insides, encompassed by lavish Mediterranean nurseries, loosening up private pools and outside amusement regions.