{"id":4799,"date":"2016-06-01T04:36:14","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T18:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=4799"},"modified":"2026-05-12T07:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T06:33:07","slug":"a-trulli-cute-bit-of-puglia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2016\/06\/01\/a-trulli-cute-bit-of-puglia\/","title":{"rendered":"A Trulli Cute Bit Of Puglia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beguiling and bewitching, that\u2019s a drawcard!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Ancient
Ancient olive groves in the Valle d\u2019Itria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was a lovely drive west past endless Puglian dry stone walls enclosing ancient olive tree groves. Poppies and cornflowers were scattered through the grasses and the view of Ostuni looked fabulous in the hot morning sun. We drove through Cisternino and on to Locorotondo for Monday\u2019s \u2018morning meander\u2019. Next to a park with fabulous views over the surrounding Valle d\u2019Itria, we found the tourist office and obtained a very vague map with even vaguer English descriptions. So we sat at a caf\u00e9 in the Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele and indulged, yet again, in thick hot chocolate with a ricotta cannolo on the side, while I tried to read the confusing information on what to see in Locorotondo.<\/p>\n

\"A
A priest relaxing, perhaps because he seemed to be the only person left in Locorotondo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Apparently the ‘elegance of the piazza’ we were in ‘makes it a drawing room’. I guess we were sitting down on chairs with cake in hand\u2026.. Then we got a little nervous. If we leave the Piazza our ‘gaze will be raped by two sloping roofs which rise on the background’. Eeeks, I don\u2019t want my gaze raped, even by a roof!!!\u00a0 Further on, we would need ‘upturned noses’ for our ‘gaze to be captured by characteristic houses’. I just wiggled my nose and tipped my head back to look at all the houses. There was a small street which was described as being ‘homonymous’, ummm, maybe they meant harmonious? And the last thing on the leaflet was the advice ‘to cross the beautiful and smooth flowing bypass that has been recently built.’\u00a0 It was ‘built with tenacity, will power and the art of a tireless community of ants’\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.yup, that one had us stumped. When we did accidentally cross over it, we had to admit it was the smoothest road we\u2019ve seen in Italy, but we never spotted the community of ants; I\u2019m sure they were there somewhere checking out their work.<\/p>\n

\"
Checking to see if the street was a bit homonymous, or very homonymous<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Flying
Flying bicycle in Locorotondo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a good amble around the old town, I decided that perhaps only ants lived there. Apart from half a dozen tourists and a German tour-bus group, there were no sounds or movement anywhere. The place was fast asleep. Had everyone locked up and left town? There were no more caf\u00e9s, no-one sitting outside their houses, only one or two shops that were empty, just a maze of tiny streets full of white buildings that were delightful and most definitely very peaceful.<\/p>\n

\"Where
Where is everyone?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bright
Bright frescoes in the very tiny chapel of San Nicola<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rather than faff around looking for a car par kin our next small-town destination, we drove straight to Camping Bosco Selva on the outskirts of Alborobello. Then late in the afternoon, we strolled the 1km down to the town. What an astonishing place! Yes, it is touristy but that\u2019s perfectly understandable. You have to see the place to believe it is real. There are apparently over a thousand Trulli buildings and it feels like you are in a cross between the middle of Hobbit town, or a mass of old fashioned bee-hives, or a multitude of chess pieces. It really is quite surreal. A Trullo has a curved cone for a roof and maybe more than one, some have quite a few, one apparently has twelve. The cone is topped with a sandstone pinnacle in various shapes: a ball, a disc, a bowl, or even a tiny cone.<\/p>\n

\"
I want one of these…..\u00a0 you said we needed to downsize……<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We had passed a lot of these buildings dotted around the countryside, some were houses, some seemed to be used just as barns. But in Alberobello there were whole streets full of them, some free-standing, some in lines attached to each other. There are Trulli homes, Trulli shops, Trulli cafes and bars, even a Trulli church or two. Their distinctive pointy roofs pop up everywhere and wherever you stood in town, you could always see one; the Monte\u00a0area has almost nothing but Trulli. We don\u2019t think we have ever been anywhere quite so remarkable.<\/p>\n

\"
It looks like we’ve landed on some other planet!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We paid to enter the Trullo Sovrano, a two-storey one that is now laid out as a museum and I fell in love with the feel of the rooms. The doorways were only just over five-feet high, so I didn\u2019t need to duck to move between rooms. The white walls were all curved up to the high round ceilings with a few tiny windows. It felt light and airy and yet womb-like. I\u2019ve decided I\u2019m knocking down our house at Garland Road to build a Trulli. Though where I will find a Trullisto in Sydney, I have no idea\u2026?<\/p>\n

\"I
I fitted just nicely in the Trullo Servano house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"
Trullo Servano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We sat outside a caf\u00e9 and stared across the road to Trulli en masse. Then later on we picked the Trullo Antico for dinner so that we could sit inside one. Finally, as the sun was slowly setting we walked back through the curious little Trulli filled streets to Eileen, picking some flowers and some wild cherries beside the road.<\/p>\n

\"Unloved
Unloved old Trullo in the field near the campsite. Maybe we could put this one in our garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tuesday marked the day of completing 24 years of married life. So we decided to stay put, have a lazy morning and then stroll down to Alborobello for a long lunch. We chose the Trullo Giardino and sat out on the terrace at the rear, surrounded by Trulli roofs. One of us ate and drank too much and he struggled to get back up the hill to the campsite. I think any thoughts of more food today have gone out of the window, probably a Trullo window.<\/p>\n

\"Anniversary
Anniversary lunch amongst the Trulli rooftops<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Smoked
Smoked salmon and smoked swordfish or the stretchy entr\u00e9e of baked mozzarella wrapped in prosciutto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rodney
Rodney trying to decide which Trullo to buy me……<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beguiling and bewitching, that\u2019s a drawcard! It was a lovely drive west past endless Puglian dry stone walls enclosing ancient olive tree groves. Poppies and cornflowers were scattered through the grasses and the view of Ostuni looked fabulous in the hot morning sun. We drove through Cisternino and on to Locorotondo for Monday\u2019s \u2018morning meander\u2019. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6305,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799\/revisions\/6305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}