Trullo
Encyclopedia
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
n dry stone hut with a conical roof. Their style of construction is specific to the Itria Valley
Itria Valley
Itria Valley is an area located in Apulia region, in Southern Italy.Itria Valley spreads over Province of Bari, Province of Brindisi and Province of Taranto, and coincide with the lower part of Murgia upland .The towns of Martina Franca, Locorotondo, Cisternino and Ceglie Messapica overlook Itria...
, in the Murge area of the Italian region of Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
. Trulli were generally constructed as temporary field shelters and storehouses or as permanent dwellings by small proprietors or agricultural labourers. Their golden age was the 19th century.
From the casedda to the trullo
The Italian term il trullo (from the Greek word τρούλος, cupola) refers to a house whose internal space is covered by a dry stone corbelled or keystone vault. Trullo is an italianized form of the dialectal term truddu used in a specific area of the Salentine peninsula (ie. Lizzaio, Maruggio and Avetrana, in other words outside the Murgia dei Trulli proper) where it is the name of the local agricultural dry stone hut. Trullo has replaced the local term casedda (pl. casedde) (italian casella, pl. caselle) which was used by locals in the Murgia to call this type of house.A stone mason specializing in the building of trulli is a trullisto or trullaro in Italian. The corresponding dialectal term is caseddaro (caseddari in the plural), i.e. builder of casedde.
Distribution
The style of construction is specific to the Itria ValleyItria Valley
Itria Valley is an area located in Apulia region, in Southern Italy.Itria Valley spreads over Province of Bari, Province of Brindisi and Province of Taranto, and coincide with the lower part of Murgia upland .The towns of Martina Franca, Locorotondo, Cisternino and Ceglie Messapica overlook Itria...
, in the Murge area of the Italian region of Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
. Trulli may be found in and out of Alberobello
Alberobello
Alberobello is a small town and comune in the province of Bari, in Puglia, Italy. It has about 11,000 inhabitants and is famous for its unique trulli constructions. The Trulli of Alberobello are part of the UNESCO World Heritage sites list since 1996....
, and in the areas around Locorotondo
Locorotondo
Locorotondo is a comune in the Province of Bari, Italy, with a population of c. 14,000. The city is known for its wines and for its round historical center, from which derives its name, meaning "Round place"...
, Fasano
Fasano
Fasano is a town and comune in the province of Brindisi, Apulia, southern Italy.It marks the border between the Altosalento and the province of Bari. It is equidistant from three of the provincial capitals in Puglia, namely Bari, Taranto and Brindisi...
, Ostuni
Ostuni
Ostuni is a city and comune in the province of Brindisi , with a population of about 32,000 located about 8 km from the coast. Its main economic activities include tourism, attracted by its nearby pristine beaches, as well as a vibrant olive and grape agribusiness.- History :The region around...
, Cisternino
Cisternino
Cisternino is a comune in the province of Brindisi in Puglia, on the south-east Italy coast approximately 50 kilometers north-west of the city of Brindisi...
, Martina Franca
Martina Franca
Martina Franca is a town and comune in the province of Taranto, Apulia , Italy. It is the second most populated city of the province after Taranto....
and Ceglie Messapica
Ceglie Messapica
Ceglie Messapica is a town and comune located in the province of Brindisi in the Puglia region, southern Italy, in the Murge traditional area.- Geography :...
.
Geology
The Murgia is a karst plateau. Winter rains drain through the soil into fissures in the strata of limestone bedrock, and flow through underground watercourses into the Adriatic. There is no permanent surface water, and water for living purposes must be trapped in catchment basins and cisterns. The surface forms a landscape of rolling hills and ridges punctuated now and again with dolines and other forms of enclosed depressions characteristic of karsts.Architecture
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Materials
Depending on the area, the building material used could be either hard limestone or calcareous tufaTufa
Tufa is a variety of limestone, formed by the precipitation of carbonate minerals from ambient temperature water bodies. Geothermally heated hot-springs sometimes produce similar carbonate deposits known as travertine...
.
Masonry
Traditionally trulli were built using dry stoneDry stone
Dry stone is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their unique construction method, which is characterized by the presence of a load-bearing facade of carefully selected interlocking...
masonry, i.e. without any mortar or cement. This style of construction is also prevalent in the surrounding countryside where most of the fields are separated by dry-stone walls.
The trullo is essentially a rural building type. With its thick walls and its inability to form mult-storey structures, it is wasteful of ground space and consquently ill-suited to high density settlement. However, being constructed of small stones, it has a flexibility and adaptability of form which are most helpful in tight urban situations.
Grouping
In the countryside, trullo domes were built singly or in pairs, or in groups of three, four or five, or sometimes in large farmyard clusters of a dozen or two dozen, but never for the occupancy of more than a single rural family.Underground cistern
The stones needed for starting to build a trullo were provided by digging a cistern (cisterna), an absolute necessity in an area devoid of water. The cistern was capped with a lime-mortared barrel vault or dome which in many cases supported the floor of the house.Roofs
The roofs are constructed in two skins: an inner skin of corbelled limestone blocks, capped by a closing stone, and an outer skin of limestone slabs that are slightly tilted outwardly, ensuring that the structure is watertight. The roof stones can be taken away without compromising the stability of the rest.Pinnacles
In Alberobello atop a trullo's cone there is normally a hand-worked sandstone pinnacle (pinnacolo), that may be one of many designs - disk, ball, cone, bowl, polyhedron, or a combination thereof, and is supposed to be the signature of the stone mason who built the trullo.Whitewashed symbols
Additionally, the cone itself may have a symbol painted on it (as shown in the picture of the trulli in Alberobello.) Such symbols may include Christian symbols such as a simple crossChristian cross
The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity...
, a cross on a heart pierced by an arrow (representing Santa Maria Addolorata, ie Our Lady of Sorrows), a circle divided into four quarters with the letters S,C,S,D in them (for Sanctus Christus and Sanctus Dominus according to one source, but more likely the initials of Santo Cosma and Santo Damiano, the two saints the local basilica is dedicated to) and quite a few others.
The quaint symbols which grace the trullo-like cones of bungalows at the Hotel dei Trulli in Alberobello first appeared in the late 1950s, when the hotel resort was built.
Interiors
The vast majority of trulli have one room under each conical roof, with additional living spaces in arched alcoves. Children would sleep in alcoveAlcove
Alcove , a vault) is an architectural term for a recess in a room, usually screened off by pillars, balustrades or drapery.In geography and geology, the term Alcove is used for a wind-eroded depression in the side of a cliff of a homogenous rock type, famous from sandstones of the Colorado Plateau...
s made in the wall with curtains hung in front.
A multiroomed trullo house has many cones representing a room each.
The thick stone walls and dome of the trullo, pleasantly cool in the summer, tend to become unpleasantly cold during the winter months, condensing the moisture given off by cooking and breathing and making it difficult to feel warm even in front of the fire. The inhabitants simply leave the doors open open during the day to keep the interior dry, and live more outdoors than in.
Windows
Owing to the concentration of houses, trulli have few openings outside their doorway and a small aperture provided in the roof cone for ventlation. As a result, it can be quite dark inside.Façades
Some trullo houses have had their perimeter walls substantially raised so that their cones can be hidden from view, making the buildings look like ordinary houses.A number of conical roofs have a truncated top with a round hole in it covered by a movable circular slab. Access to the hole is by an outside stairway built into the roof. These trulli were for grain, hay or straw storage.
History
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 Puglia created dry wall constructions so that they could be dismantled when inspectors were in the area.In available historical records from the mid-14th century to the late 16th century, the area of Alberobello is referred to mostly as a selva (i.e. "forest") and occasionally as a land from which grazing animals were excluded. Evidence is lacking as to the existence of dwellings in the area prior to the 17th century.
A Plan of the Territory of Mottala drawn by Donato Gallerano in 1704 reveals the existence of a nucleus of trulli in the midst of a large wood, making up the initial settlement of Arbore bello.
In a geographical map drawn by Giovanni Antonio Rizzi Zannoni in 1808, one can see the selva of Alberobello and, in the midst of it, a clearing with a settlement of scattered houses that bears a striking resemblance to the present-day urban pattern.
In an 1897 photograph of the rione Monti (the district of the Mounts), the trulli are far less densely packed than today, being surrounded by enclosed gardens.
The urban trulli still extant in Alberobello today date from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. After having undergone a process of densification in the first decades of the 20th century, the trulli settlements started being deserted in the second half of the 20th century.
The rural trulli, on cheaper land, ceased to be built when the cost of labour began to rise in the twentieth century. The sheer expense of handling the hundreds of tons necessary for a single house became prohibitive.
Trulli as tourist attraction
Today the surviving trulli are popular among EnglishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
tourists and are often bought and restored for general use. However, anyone wishing to restore a trullo needs to conform with many regulations as trulli are protected under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
) world heritage law.
Since the beginning of the century, a large number of trullo houses have been restored and converted into second homes or self-catering cottages. In 1999, rebuilding a trullo roof would cost about 3 million liras (about 1,500 euros), in 2009 the cost rose up to 15,000 euros.
In the Alberobello region, local residents who still live in trulli only do so because they cannot afford to move out or because they provide bed and board for tourists in their trulli.
Rheinhessen (wine region)
Rheinhessen is the largest of 13 German wine regions for quality wines with under cultivation in 2008. Named for the traditional region of Rhenish Hesse, it lies on the left bank of the River Rhine between Worms and Bingen in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate...
of Germany, vineyard huts bearing a resemblance to trulli were built in the 18th century by vineyard workers (some from Apulia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
).