Italy - The Trulli of Alberobello in Apulia

The night was short, the sleep not really restful. So what to do? A little tired, we pack up our dirty belongings and look for a laundry. Fill the drum and spend the waiting time in the nearby café with croissants with vanilla cream and an espresso doppio or two. We have to wake up somehow.

But we only really wake up when a dad with a bunch of five-year-olds annexes the café with their childish energy. They shout, laugh and eventually discover the piano in the corner. Now it's strumming, with everything from Brother Jakob to Happy Birthday and Christmas carols. Dad tries to calm the children down. We can only laugh, we are happy that there is life in the joint. So the two hours for the washing machine and dryer fly by.

Eventually, the last pair of socks is dried, rolled up and stowed away in Felix's cupboard, and we move on.

Alberobello and its round houses

The town is particularly famous for its cone-shaped buildings, a trullo, many trulli, which were built in large numbers in the region. In Alberobello, entire neighbourhoods are made up of these trulli, which is why the town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Trulli can be found not only in Alberobello itself, but also in the surrounding area. We drive through a gentle hilly landscape and see numerous trulli in gardens, in fields and in small villages.

Typically, the trulli are round, whitewashed and have characteristic conical roofs that are layered on top of each other without mortar in a kind of false vault. This construction resembles the primitive dwellings of mankind found elsewhere in the Mediterranean.

Why exactly these trulli without mortar? Quite simple:

In the 17th century, the Count of Conversano wanted to circumvent a regulation in force in the Kingdom of Naples that forbade the founding of new settlements without permission. This permission cost money.

But more and more new settlers settled around Alberobello. Girolamo obliged them all to maintain the construction of the trulli. These were dismantled as quickly as they were rebuilt.

And when an imperial inspection commission announced itself, the roofs were taken off to show the tax collectors that a poor collection of half-walls could not be called a new settlement. Consequently, no taxes had to be paid. The success of this action led to the fact that no mortar was allowed to be used at all in Alberobello and this building method became a tradition.

It was that easy to save taxes and duties back then.

But we stroll through the alleys, let the sun shine on our fur and eat the best gnocchi of the day. The white houses dazzle in the sun, we are allowed to look at some of them from the inside (and do see some mortar here and there - tse!) and leave the fairytale town again after an extensive tour. For despite the funny round houses, the bright spring sun and the good espresso, the whole thing is very touristy.

We look for a very quiet spot far out in the greatest possible silence. We have to catch up on sleep, last night is now taking its toll. And we wonder if we will ever be able to pull all-nighters again. Or whether it's over once and for all?

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Merci for "travelling with us

We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.

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