Trullo

Trullo is a form of residential house widespread in Puglia (Apulia), a province of Southern Italy, with the most beautiful examples surviving in Alberobello. Adhering closely to one another, these edifices climb the gentle slopes of the hillside along a curved line adjusted to the terrain’s contours. Trulli were built from dry stone masonry, without using mortar or cement, with a quadratic floor plan and conical roof typically featuring a span of 4-6 metres. They were named after their forms. The etymology of the word may be rooted in the Latin turris, or the Greek thólos (cupola, dome). The thick stonewall sides of the trulli are double-layered, their dome being a direct follow-up to the walls. The interior of a trullo is an open-plan one, containing a single room. Thus, families of rooms are created by integrating the adjoining trulli to include separate residence functions. Used for storing, the larger interior space is often covered with a timber roof. Trullo architecture flourished between the 16th and 19th centuries.