What to see in Alberobello, one-day itinerary including the main places of interest of the places to visit on foot, including Casa Pezzolla, Sovereign Trullo and Territory Museum.
Tourist information
Alberobello, a town in the province of Bari, is famous for the trulli, typical buildings found in central-southern Puglia.
The town stretches over two hills, on the hill to the east is the new part of the town, while the trulli line up on the west.
This urban agglomeration, divided into the Monti and Aia Piccola districts, is recognized by UNESCO as an artistic heritage of worldwide interest.
The name of the city of Alberobello derives from the Latin Sylva aut nemur arboris belli, which means Selva or forest of the tree of the war, and reminds that the area in ancient times was a wooded area, where probably a fire or an ambush occurred brigands.
The history of the town begins in the 16th century when the King of Naples, Ferdinand of Aragon, gave the investiture of the fiefdom including the Selva to Andrea Matteo Acquaviva, Count of Conversano.
The Counts of Conversano began to bring people, mostly farmers, to till and make the forest fertile, in exchange they offered them advantages, asking for only a tenth of the crops, but not granting any form of property and not even civic rights and privileges.
The farmers were able to build their dry houses, with the prohibition of using any type of lime, they were the characteristic trulli, so they could be demolished in the event of a royal inspection, as the birth of an urban agglomeration required the payment of the second tribute the Pragmatica de Baronibus.
In fact, in 1644, following a complaint made by Duke Caracciolo di Martina Franca, a royal inspection was ordered, and then the Count had all the houses demolished in one night, temporarily removing the inhabitants.
At the time of the check, the royal inspectors found only scattered stones and so the appeal had no effect. After the colonists they rebuilt their homes again, always respecting the ban on using lime.
Meanwhile the village of La Selva was growing, but the condition of the inhabitants was very sad, without any guarantee and protection for their existence, as justice was in the hands of the Count's whims.
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This particularly hard life fueled the desire for freedom and the aspiration for civil life.
Finally in 1797 a group of Alberobellesi took courage and went to Taranto to ask for help from King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, who accepted the request and issued a decree with which elevated the small village to royal city, freeing it from feudal servitude .
What see
The typical buildings of Alberobello, the trulli, from the Greek tholos which means dome, have come down to our times through a millenary tradition.
In a central area of the town located between the Aia Piccola district and Piazza del Popolo, there is the complex called Casa Pezzolla, named after the last owners, now owned by the Municipality.
It is the largest housing complex of the 15 adjoining and communicating trulli, which can be visited in Alberobello, the oldest of which date back to the 18th century.
The largest Trullo in the country is the Sovereign Trullo, and was built by the Perta family in the mid-18th century.
This two-storey building is used as a museum of the territory and the interior, which can be visited, has a furniture reconstructed through the testimonies of the older inhabitants of Alberobello.
