Alberobello

Alberobello

UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996, Alberobello is also known as the "capital of the trulli".

The name Alberobello derives from the Latin Sylva Arboris Belli, a denomination that refers to the times when the area was covered with luxuriant vegetation. The first agglomerations in this area were born between 1400 and 1500, by some farmers sent to the place by the Counts of Conversano.

The latter forced the peasants to colonize what was then an oak forest, erecting only precarious buildings with dry stone, without mortar or other binders. It was a ploy to circumvent the law in force at the time in the Kingdom of Naples, which provided for the payment of taxes for each new settlement.

Thus the Trulli were born, easy to demolish in the event of a direct inspection, which would not have seen the stretches of the urban settlement, albeit abusive. The Trulli, from then on, spread widely, also for practical and economic reasons, such as the abundance of limestone from which it was necessary to clear the agricultural land, their lower construction cost, the best shelter from the heat offered. from their thick walls.

In 1797, a group of brave Alberobellesi, tired of the precarious condition, went to Taranto to ask for help from King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, who decreed the status of a free city for Alberobello.
A partire da questo momento, si iniziò ad utilizzare anche la malta nelle costruzioni.