Alberobello: how did trulli appear and what does it mean

Tell me, could you destroy your own house in one minute and only in order not to pay the legal tax for living in it? And if so it was necessary to do several times a year? It is not surprising that among the Italian mean-spirits a whole city appeared from houses that could be destroyed at the first danger, having pulled out only one stone.

This very strange and unusual settlement was born at a time when the flag of Spanish dominion fluttered over the southern part of that Italy, and it was precisely in those distant years that the feudal lord who escaped from Naples decided to develop unowned land, plow fields and earn a pretty penny for existence, but he categorically opposed the very thought of paying tribute to the treasury.

Our cunning duke sat on the nearest stone and began to think how to disgrace the royal individual and circumvent the law, because the feudal lords were then forbidden to build houses without the personal permission of the king, and plus the housing tax was extremely high. Then he was struck by an ambiguous idea, he came up with a new type of housing based on a specific masonry without the use of special bonding solutions.

The classic trullo in Alberobello is made of stone slabs from the very bottom to the crown, however, more modern versions already have normal walls, but still have the same kind of dome.

So what is the secret? The pinnacle of Scooper's engineering thought was a special stone embedded in the foundation, which was used as a locking lock. As soon as the news spread around the surrounding fields that the royal tax inspector was coming here, all the peasants hurriedly threw a rake, wives, children and hurried home, where they took out a stone supporting all this device, and the house crumbled down, like it was laid out from dominoes, turning into a useless pile of stones.

Some historians say that they did this dirty business not with their own hands, but pulled the "necessary" stone with the help of three horses harnessed together. But I will tell you so, my friends, having three horses in hand, you can break down even a trulli, even a Russian hut, even a Chukchi needle, even a Khrushchev socket, by the way, and one horse can easily cope with it. Most likely, this stone was knocked down by the heel of the owner’s boot, well, or by another similar stone. They definitely didn’t need any Hulk)

So why trulli? Local pranksters say that all this is due to the peculiar sound of stones crumbling down, as soon as you pull the desired one, the house will form a single hill with the fun sound "tttrrrrruuuuull." I immediately remembered a fairy tale: "And you pull the rope, the door will open."

But you and I know the truth, and just like that, we won’t fall for the playful stories of Italians, in their language the word “trullo” means a dome, therefore they got a very popular name for their peculiar form.

By the way, they say that already in 1797, King Ferdinand was tired of driving his tax collectors there and decided to give freedom to the peasants, settlements and their houses, having reported this with the help of the messengers, publicly declaring that he would no longer collect tribute from them.

But the peasants are a scorched people, they feudal drunk and didn’t promise such treasures, but in the end morning came, and he with a sore head denied the spoken words. So the people were in no hurry to fill everything with solutions, continued to build in the same style and tied a rope to the right stone, for he knew that the king could be granted freedom and tax exemption back at any time.

So the tricky advertising move of the king did not work and the trulli continued to grow from the southern land until 1925.

It was then that a new, ever-changing law came out. From now on, it was forbidden to build new houses in this style (as they did not meet modern technologies) and it was only allowed to maintain existing houses in a suitable condition.

By the way, this law is still valid, therefore there is not a single remake, but only high-quality renovated age-related housing, which is closely guarded by UNESCO.

By the way, these lovely houses were officially released from taxes only in 1979, and if you suddenly want to buy one of them for yourself, then I can say that prices start at only 5,000 euros. Of course, it all depends on his condition and organized amenities.

Few people know, but the top assembly of this house is not only a special sign of the master who built this housing, but also a peculiar definition of the floor of this trullo. Yes, yes, local residents use this detail to determine which gender the architectural building has, male or female.

Well, and, as you can see, the domes of all these trulls are very uniform, and the streets are similar to each other, like the twin brothers, well, so that the Italian peasant who is slightly drunk from young red wine does not get lost and definitely returns to his native home, where he would hug his wife, they began to draw various pictures on these roofs, which were necessary for purely internal orientation. The address was explained in the same way, behind the sun to the left, at the heart to the right, and there, all the way, until you see a spruce.

In such a city, an ordinary church with gilded domes simply could not appear, therefore, when the people voted, they chose the project of a local architect, which emphasizes the unique style of this architecture.

Well, at the very end, there is a little information for those who nevertheless gather in this amazing place: the city is divided into two parts by hills, and if the western one is completely devoured by tourists, packed with souvenir shops, shops and restaurants, then in trulli on the eastern hill it was forbidden to open all this legislatively, which positively affects the atmosphere of the place, its originality, well, there you can appreciate everything without too much fuss and a couple of hundred Chinese eyes.