Our trip to Alberobello was a must. If you are living in Puglia, certainly, you cannot miss seeing this UNESCO site famous for its trulli (plural, trullo singular). Alberobello is a charming town with a population of about 11,000 people and a concentration of over 1600 unique structures called trulli. These cylindrical or rectangular shaped buildings are frosted in an icing of white mat plaster and are topped with conical birthday hats of grayed limestone. Yes, this is my birthday celebration so walking through a town of mystical whimsey expressed in birthday cake form works. Most of these structures serving as homes, bed and breakfasts, or retail outlets. Large cut chucks of travertine pave the streets their well-worn surfaces, polished by thousands of footsteps over the centuries, press right up to the foundations of the trulli on either side of the pathway. The UNESCO website states that the trulli form represents a remarkable survival of prehistoric building techniques. There is archaeological evidence that the tholos, an ancient circular tomb, may have been in use here in the Itria valley area and, over time, this form was expressed as the trullo. However it transpired, the rich earthiness of the ancient springing from mother earth is here in Alberobellos trulli areas. I envision trulli half hidden in the original bosch of oak trees that covered the land. I look for gnomes as I stoop to enter dwellings and pass under the low thick oak trusses of doorways that shattered the veil of time. Cast iron pots hang in black charred fireplaces and looms, warp in place, wait for deft hands. Then time for lunch, in, of course, a trullo. And here we are, in Alberobello, center of souther Italy. I am sitting with an luscious plate of orecchiette e rape (pasta with rappini) and a glass of local red wine, savoring both atmosphere and food. The two woman at a table near us are talking in english. They are talking about Mexico! Turns out, one woman, a Korean (I lived in Seoul many years ago) is now living in Puerto Vallarta. The other woman, a Mexican from Puerto Vallarta, is now living in Switzerland. What fun to have our world converge here in this magical trulli. Toward the end of the day, we made our way to a trullo church. As we approached, a stream of people quietly exited the large double door entry and spilled into the broad area in front of the church which serves as both a courtyard and street. The same cylinder trulli form that was squat and quaint on the houses stretched out on the church expressing itself as a tower reaching to kiss the sky. The soft white exterior walls received the fading light. A hearst was park with back doors open. The trulli may be rooted in a long history, but for the people of Alberobello, trulli are their homes, their shops, their restaurants, their public buildings, and the place they welcome the gift of new life into their presence and say farewell to those who pass from their midst.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 16:45:35 +0000
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