Where to find trulli in Italy?
If you are a frequent watcher of Fox Life or TLC, you must have definitely come across trulli. Basically trulli are small houses made of stone roofs. Okay not exciting enough? You have to see it to believe it. If you are a Bollywood fan, you must have seen trulli in the song Khuda Jane from the movie Bachna Ae Haseeno. The base of the house is stark white while the roofs are conical and made of small stones. Trullo is a single house while trulli is plural. In Italiano, you usually add i at the end to turn it into plural (just like we add s at the end) there is a single village in the entire world in Italy that has trulli. Since this is kind of an endangered construction, it has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. All this had badly wanted me to visit them. Now the cardinal question arose: Where are these?
When we were planning our trip to Italy, I was adamant about visiting two places:
the trulli are found only in Alberobello, a tiny town in the state of Puglia, near Bari, its capital. It was a one and a half hour train ride from the Bari local railway station. However the train was not that frequent so it meant that we had to execute our plan intelligently.
We boarded the nine thirty train and reached there at around 11. However it was quite a walk from the station to the 'Trulli village'.We had our flight back to Rome that night and that's why I had pack everything before leaving for Alberobello. That is where we slacked. the train was at eight in the morning and then at 9 30. In order to catch the 8 am train, we had to leave at around quarter past seven. I was already tired from the past few days and this was the last leg of our trip. So the option was the 9 30 train and when we reached there we realised that it was a blunder.
There are two villages : Rione Monti : the larger village and Aia Picollo, the smaller one. We reached Rione monti at around 11 30 and it was crazily crowded. Most of the tourists were local. But the hustle bustle was maddening. Hubs got really furious with me for not boarding the 8 AM train and reaching there early. It was a task even navigating around, forget clicking pictures in peace!
I, however was very content. I mean I had dreams of visiting this place since I was a kid and there I was, in person! The village was serenely beautiful. Stark white houses, conical stone roofs, stony pathways with green creepers here and there. It looked liked it was kind of an exhibition/ make believe village.
Hubs was dissatisfied as he could not take pictures without any photo bombing. I got angry because he was not letting me sink in the heavenly feeling and continually grumbling. Finally we decided to run ahead of the maddening public. It was say to get lost there. But we managed to dodge the major chunk of the crowd and sneak into a comparatively peaceful lane. And then our photoshoot began. I could not really decide how to take pictures. I mean everything was so beautiful. Before we could actually settle there, the crowd reached there too. Again we ran to a nearby lane. The whole of Riene Monti was explored like this.
As soon as it was 1 pm, we decided to go to the other smaller village : Aia Piccolo (picollo means small) I somehow loved it more than its touristy, more famous cousin. the lanes were quieter and the houses were prettier. Okay I am wrong. The trullo itself is very beautiful, everyone of it. There was particularly one house that had pumpkins all around it and it was a magnet for photo crazy tourists.
Actually what used to be actual houses of villagers and farmers are no longer that. In order to preserve this rare heritage, these are being maintained by commercial people and had been converted to resorts and homestays. I wish I could stay there but neither we had time nor the money. My wish got fulfilled a bit when we had our last meal in a trullli restaurant.
Top: Forever 21
Skirt: Forever 21
Blazer: H n M (Italy)
Sunnies: Forever 21
9 comments
Thanks to you I know now how "Trulli" look :) These tiny houses are really beautiful - and so are you! Thank you for sharing all the beautiful pictures.
ReplyDeletexx from Bavaria/Germany, Rena
www.dressedwithsoul.com
Ohhh really love these house and really you wrote very beautifully. Will Add this in my travel calender
ReplyDeleteYou always give the right direction and save us. Thanks for sharing this blog and giving us amazing recommendations through your blogs :)
ReplyDeleteThis place looks so beautiful, thanks for giving us information,I will definitely visit this place, next time I visit Italy
ReplyDeleteYour travel blogs are major goals girl...loved this on too...this is dafinately in my bucket list girl ! Thanks for sharing about Trulli.
ReplyDeleteItaly, city of romanticism and love..wanna to try soon..have bookmarked for my visit.
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ReplyDeleteHonestly saying, Italy never was in my Bucket list, but after reading this beautiful blog, now it surely is, thank you for sharing this amazing bit.
ReplyDeleteYou always give me travel goals ! And wow this seems like an amaiama place to visit
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