Alberobello

Alberobello, known for its characteristic houses called Trulli, is part of the Valle d'Itria and the Murgia dei Trulli.
Bordering Locorotondo, Martina Franca, Putignano, Noci and Castellana Grotte, Alberobello stands on a hill about 420 meters above sea level.The soil is mainly karstic and mixes with red soil/clay, which is well suited to the cultivation of olive trees, almond trees, cherry trees and vines.

Recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1996 and awarded with the Orange Flag by the Italian Touring Club, it is a tangle of winding alleys with more than 1000 trulli.

What is a trullo?
The trulli are small stone white houses without windows, or with a small, simple, square or rectangular window, with a gray cone roof.

Rione Monti, UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the oldest district of the city, together with Rione Aia Piccola, with over a thousand trulli and fifteen streets intersected between them.
Rione Aia Piccola is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, whose name recalls a large open space that in the past was used for the beating of wheat. Currently this is the only area where there are no commercial activities, which makes it very suggestive.

You can't miss Pezzolla House, a complex of 15 trulli on the east side of the historic Piazza XXVII Maggio, now a museum of the area, and the Trullo Sovrano, the only two-floors trullo, which hosts shows and concerts .

According to some studies, the trulli of Alberobello date back to the mid-fourteenth century; at the time it was common to demolish and rebuild uneven buildings rather than repair them. The dry construction, without mortar, seems to have been imposed on the peasants in the fifteenth century by the Counts of Conversano, to escape an order of the Kingdom of Naples which imposed tributes to every new urban settlement. These buildings were therefore precarious buildings, easy to demolish and not taxable. Actually the trulli are far from being precarious, since their internal structure, although lacking support and connection elements, has an extraordinary static capacity.

The cuisine of Alberobello is genuine and is simple both in the preparation and in its ingredients. The dishes prepared are the expression of the culinary tradition of medieval farmers: short cooking, use of fresh vegetables, oil, spontaneous vegetables and legumes. A cuisine that could be defined as "solar", in which the dominant element is the tomato, fresh or "hung", i.e. that is harvested in summer and kept cool for the winter.
Even the traditional meatballs of Alberobello are never made with meat but with eggs, bread and cheese. You can taste them fried or with fresh tomato sauce and basil. Pasta is one of the key elements, simple both in form and realization and every type has its seasoning. Sauces with fresh tomatoes and basil are cooked very quickly, as are all preparations that require immediate flavour on pasta.
For the ragù the use of white meats and ponies is preferred and with this one the brasciole are prepared: slices wrapped and stuffed with pecorino, garlic or onion and parsley. For these more demanding sauces, the homemade sauce is used - as per tradition - during summer. The puree of white beans is a poor but nutritious dish of the Alberobello cuisine. It is prepared in a large clay bowl with a suitable wooden spoon, accompanied by boiled wild chicory, orobanca or "tops of vines" in salad. Alberobello cuisine, due to its proximity to the sea, is also characterized by recipes based on fish, shellfish and mussels.