We have spent this morning visiting museums, watching videos and talking to locals... trying to figure out why Alberobello builds houses in the weird shapes they call Trulli... and why no other town bothers. A picture is starting to emerge that may explain part of the mystery. Everest ing always starts with the geology. Alberobello is built on limestone rock. For reasons unknown, the rock has flaked off the subterranean layer in thin (relatively) slatey layer. Farmers plowing their lime wash ds sh sh have been bringing to the surface these bricks of limestone... and cleared the plowed area by tossing the rock into the corner of the paddock.
Eventually, one smart farmer started to build shelters for his animals and grain... others copied... designs improved... sheds got bigger... and some of the poorer farmers started to live in them. This was all dry building... just stone on stone... no mortar or other binding agent.
Then came the political enzyme... the big man in Naples decided that there were enough villages in his domain... so out went the edict... no more villages. However, the local Counts were doing quite well from the population growth... they said, "We'd better keep new construction to dry-wall techniques, so they can be quickly demolished if the Royal Treasury does an audit of the area." The good folk of Alberobello didn't mind... they were already experts in dry-wall building techniques... rich citizens refined and expanded what their poor relatives had invented.
The Naples big man couldn't control the force of nature... new towns continued to be established... the big man was being made to look silly... and he was missing out on taxes. He introduced a new law... pay a tax for every new house in the village. The local Counts were not too supportive of Naples' big man... the Count said to the peasants, "Don't pay the tax... we'll tell Naples that the structures are built to house the farm animals and store grain." Well Naples (and succeeding rulers) bought this story for centuries... people couldn't possibly live in these hovels... but they did.
The next bit of history we noticed concerned Mussolini... he paid a visit to Alberobello... just before WWII... and the town dressed itself up... as best it could... some towns folk even decorated their roof with a painted white cross or a circle. Mussolini's visit was a great success ... he was particularly taken with the ancient symbolism represented by mysterious markings on the stone roofs. Since that time, many of the roofs have continued to be decorated with symbols in white limewash... that don't mean anything... but the tourists stare for hours... searching for ancient meaning.
UNESCO gave the town world heritage listing... the town converted from a poverty stricken rural village to an international tourist site... and that is how you find it today.
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