The Trulli of Alberobello

My Alberobello...
Alberobello is both a delightful place to visit and an essential stop for all those who travel in Apulia. Tourists normally visit the city’s two important areas (Monti and Aia Piccola), they have a look at the many little shops located in the round, stone buildings called trulli, and then they go.

But for me Alberobello and the trulli represent something completely different: they are steeped in relaxation. The true trullo is not found in the city. Ok, there are also those. But there are also the trulli in the countryside and there they create a paradise. The particular structure of the walls makes the trulli warm in the winter (which is a pleasure) and cool in the summer (paradise!). Therefore afternoon naps are a must! 

Events
July - August
The 23 of July commemorates the liberation of the city from its servile yoke. The most important event is the Festival Folcloristico Internazionale from the 5th to the 7th of August that brings together Pugliesi folk music groups from around the world.

September
The Medical Saints, Cosmas and Damian, are the patrons of the city. The grand neoclassical church that dominates the new part of the city is dedicated to them. The city celebrates from the 25th to the 28th of September with a festival with illuminations and stalls selling foods, candies and other items.

Typical food and drink
From Orecchiette to Mozzarella, alberobellese cooking stands out for its flavors stemming from peasant origins from another time. It is not uncommon to find pasta made by hand, including the celebrated orecchiette (small shell-shaped pasta), which is served with fresh tomato sauce, basil and ricotta cheese.
The cooking of Trulli is enriched by characteristic items from nearby cities: the mozzarella of Gioa del Colle, cherries from Turi, funghi cardoncelli (oyster mushrooms) from Noci, onions from Acquaviva.

Local Wines
While in Alberobello it is extremely easy to taste local wines, my advice for those who are fond of a good drink and enjoy the opportunity to explore the neighborhoods is to taste the wine directly in the wine cellar. Thanks to an excellent signs, it is easy to follow many routes to wine cellars in other cities throughout the Itria Valley.
Two stops are a must: Locorotondo and Martina Franca. Both cities produce very good DOC wine from the grape varieties Verdeca, Bianco d'Alessano and Malvasia. The wine cellars are ready to welcome visitors.

Giampaolo's Spotlight... The Trulli
The trulli are constructed in a circular form with a cone-shaped roof. Traditionally they are dry constructions made without mortar or cement by simply putting one cut stone on another. This involves an age-old technique that is known in various parts of the world. Here at Alberobello this ancestral technology has been refined since the 17th century and has evolved to create unique modern trulli.

So far the origins are uncertain, but it seems the trullo was born during the control of local nobles in order to evade taxation. The Count Giangirolamo Acquaviva forced his peasants to construct their houses without mortar so that they could be dismantled in a night. It was the practice, in fact, that the nobility should pay the King more taxes based on the number of inhabited houses present on the administrative land. The trulli could be destroyed in a night before the royal inspectors arrived and reconstructed after they left.

To have to demolish and reconstruct one's house many times in a lifetime made the peasants not only skilled in this technique, but also allowed them to use it to their advantage. With the stones they learned to construct economical houses, warm in the winter and fresh in the summer, with a form that helped collect scarce rain, and, above all, a house that could grow and change adapting to the needs of those who lived within.
A house with walls that breathe, a house that lives, today we would call it an ecological house with zero impact.

How to arrive
Alberobello is situated in the heart of the Itria Valley, one of the most beautiful areas of Apulia and the entire southern Italy that stretches into the provinces of Bari, Taranto and Brindisi. Located among rolling hills, Alberobello is surrounded by a fairy-tale landscape.
By plane: Alberobello is equidistant from the Bari Palese and the Brindisi airports; both are about 78 km away.
By car: The city is well-connected by very good roads. Once in Bari, there are three possible routes: it is possible to follow the A14 highway until Gioia del Colle and then take the SS 604, going through Noci and arriving at the destination; you can leave the highway in Bari and follow the SS 100 in the direction of Taranto, then join the secondary road 172 for Turi, going through Putignano; from Bari it is possible to follow the coast south (SS 16) until Monopoli and then take the secondary road N.133.
All of these routes are basically the same in terms of time. I recommend leaving the highway in Bari, and, indeed, the last two routes described above are very smooth and extremely beautiful. 
By train: Alberobello is served by the train line of the Ferrovie del Sud-Est that is based in Bari; the line is not among the quickest but the journey is short.
By bus: buses depart daily from the Largo Ciaia station in Bari for Alberobello.

Top 10 Things to see and to do
1. Visit the Monti district
2. Visit the Aia Piccola district
3. Visit the Trullo Sovrano
4. Visit the House of Love (La casa D’Amore)
5. Visit the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian
6. Visit the Church of Sant' Antonio (Located in a Trullo)
7. Visit the Siamese Trullo (Il Trullo Siamese)
8. Visit the local museum
9. Have a trip to Martina Franca
10. Biking from Alberobello to Locorotondo