Alberobello Things to Do

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It takes maybe an hour or so to stroll around the town and investigate the trulli buildings. It is said there are over 1000 of them in Alberobello. Some have been converted into souvenir stores, restaurants, and hotel rooms.

Be sure to go into a trullo. We were part of a tour and of course that was included. I am sure that "open visits" are suggested by the tourist office or perhaps there are signs or just ask (the people are shy but friendly and you can look the Italian words up in your dictionary). You could describe the spaces as comfy or tight. Nobody looked very overweight.

As one approaches Alberobello by car, the trulli appear. Outside of town they are usually a tool-shed or outbuilding. In town there are over 1000 ,usually used as dwellings. They are round or rectangular at the base and made of whitewashed (always!) blocks of stone (usually limestone with or without limestone mortar bonding). The magical characterisitic is the roof of flat gray limestone tiles overlapped in sprial courses to produce a conical top.At the top are pinnacles (and rarely chimneys) bearing religious , mystical or folk symbols.(VTer sim1 has has a display of a dozen under Customs). Some trulli are multiple. Many have extending wings or niches that are bed alcoves or hold cupboards. The town hall is a two story one(Trullo Sovrano) and there is a modern church in "Trullo style" (San Antonio). Some large trulli have attics, others cover cellars. The windows are very small and the stone walls are extremely thick (often over 3 ft.) One should plan to eat lunch in a trullo-restaurant. The town is very photogenic and other VTers have recorded enough before me. There is still time to add your own. (This is not Venice or Rome).

Another of those door in Alberobello. It's actually quite hard to make pictures of the doors, because most of them were open on this beautiful sunny day. So I wonder if this is a door to a house, or more likely to some kind of storage space.

While in Italy, I had a fascination with doors. And you can find door pictures on quite a few of my Italy pages, and even a whole selection of doors and door knockers on my Europe page.

This is a door picture that I took in Alberobello. I Didn't find any spectacular doors with doorknockers here in Alberobello, most of them were simple. Hahaha, I have to admit that this one is very simple!

A quiet little corner in Alberobello. There is one main street through Alberobello, which is 'relatively' busy. But when you get to the sidestreets you'll notice that it is much more quiet here.

Seldom do you see just one lonely "trullo" by itself. (When you have more than one "trullo" they are called "trulli"). As a family grows so does their tiny one room house. A new "trullo" is nestled right up beside the first one, naturally, with an opening made in their common wall to connect the two. Later, if the family wants even more room, it's simple, just add another one, then another, each with its very own pointy headed roof. Some have also added lofts under their roofs.

Walking through Alberobello, with my camera in my hand. Alberobello is so picturesque that I made lots of pictures here. Hahaha, as you will discover later, the roofs were my favourite part of the trulli :-)

Quite a few trulli have been turned into small shops for the tourist trade. It's nice to go inside a few of them as you get a chance to see the trulli on the inside as well. There are of course the usual souvenir shops, but there are a lot of little shops that display the handicrafts of the local artisans. Others offer the wines, jams and all kinds of foods that are specialties of the region.