Saturday, February 5, 2011

Alberobello


Alberobello is world famous as the Trullo Town. What's a trullo you ask? It's a little round house with this unique conical roof made of limestone slabs piled one atop the other without the benefit of mortar to hold them together. There are many theories behind the origin of the design. One of the more popular theories is that due to high taxation on property the people of the Itria Valley created dry wall constructions so that they could be dismantled when inspectors were in the area. Apparently, they were taxed per roof..no roof, no tax!

These structures can be found throughout the Puglia region, but they are usually used as storage sheds for farm equipment in the countryside. You can see some of my previous trullo shots both from the inside and out here, here and here.

9 comments:

VP said...

A fantastic image!

Anonymous said...

The ingenuity of people never ceases to amaze me. There must be rafters of some sort to stack the stones on or against.

Jack said...

What a wonderful shot. The building is crisp and clean, and the gray, ominous sky really complements it. Nice. (And, good explanation of a building type I know nothing about.)

Chattahoochee Valley Daily said...

What a terrific composition.

Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.com said...

I have seen these on travel shows on TV. Great photo and information.

irinapictures said...

Looks like a fairy-tale house. Beautiful!

Ann said...

I remember that town, really interesting place.

BlossomFlowerGirl said...

Very clever people. Nobody likes the tax man. A lovely photo too, I like the pink geranium? in the window.

Unknown said...

Fantastic! Love the roofs and composition too.