Famous worldwide, unique, and renowned for its characteristic trulli, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Alberobello is a true gem in the Puglian hinterland. A small treasure that attracts visitors from all over the world each year, eager to explore the trulli and fascinated by the surrounding countryside full of olive groves, wheat fields, and vineyards.
What are Trulli?
The word trullo comes from the ancient Greek trûllos, meaning "dome." This very particular construction is circular at the base and conical at the top, built using dry stone. The southeastern part of Bari is rich in these ancient dwellings, once used as temporary shelters in the countryside or permanent homes for farmers. The spread of trulli is linked to a law dating back to the Kingdom of Naples. By building houses only with dry stones, it was possible to continuously dismantle and rebuild them. Thanks to this expedient by Count Giangirolamo II Acquaviva d’Aragona, "the One-Eyed of Apulia," farmers could avoid paying taxes to the Spanish viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples. When tax collectors arrived, they simply removed the keystone, causing the dome to collapse and giving the impression that it was just a pile of rubble.
The entire Itria Valley, from historic centers to the countryside, is full of trulli, often alongside splendid masserie. But the city par excellence that hosts the largest number of these constructions is Alberobello. Only here, in fact, is there an entire district made of trulli, and the city is considered the cultural capital of the trulli of the Murgia.
Highlighting this uniqueness, on December 6, 1996, Alberobello was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
How to get to Alberobello
You can reach here from Bari or Brindisi airports. By train with Ferrovie Sud Est or by bus. But if you need it, you can also count on our transfer service that will pick you up and take you directly to Alberobello
At Pugliamare, we organize many different tours every day that stop in Alberobello. Together, we can take you to discover the beauty of this place through a tour that combines sea, culture, and tradition for an unforgettable journey.
Alternatively, if you have limited time in Puglia and want to visit the most iconic UNESCO cities in the area, we offer a perfect tour for history lovers and those who wish to discover magical villages that seem straight out of a fairytale. We can take you to explore Matera and Alberobello, two UNESCO World Heritage cities that will leave you speechless with their timeless beauty and unique atmospheres.
What to Visit in Alberobello
People go to Alberobello primarily to admire the trulli: traditional dry-stone constructions of Puglia, characterized by stone walls and conical roofs, often used as temporary shelters or homes for farmers.
These fascinating and unique constructions offer a breathtaking spectacle to visitors who come to observe the city's historic center, which looks like a postcard.
Here you can admire, among the city's alleys...
- Rione Monti: The district with the highest concentration of trulli, offering a unique panoramic view.
- Rione Aia Piccola: The most characteristic and tranquil corner of the city.
- Trullo Sovrano: The only trullo with an elevated floor, accessible from the inside via a masonry staircase, among the first to be built with mortar. This building has a conical dome, about 14 meters high, which stands at the center of a group of trulli consisting of twelve cones.
- The Church of San'Antonio: Built in 1927, it is unique of its kind because it is entirely composed of trulli.
- Casa Pezzolla: A cluster of 15 interconnected trulli, which houses a museum.
- Casa D'Amore: The first town hall or the Trullo Sovrano house-museum, the only historic and original trulli still intact in the city.
- The Museum of the Territory: Now a souvenir shop in the smallest trullo in the city.
- The Siamese Trullo: Two identical and attached trulli that form a single dwelling.
Where and what to eat in Alberobello
- Ristorante Casa Nova: where you can enjoy Puglian dishes and wines among vaulted ceilings and stone walls in a spacious former underground olive mill from 1970.
- La Bottega del Gelato: one of the city's historic ice cream parlors where you can taste the best artisanal gelato.
- Terra Mossa Ristorante: a restaurant with a wide selection of dishes, from Italian classics to traditional Puglian cuisine.
- Apperò: for a 100% made in Puglia food experience, where you can taste typical PDO, PGI, and DOC products. Here you can also find takeaway dishes for your picnics or outdoor meals, or relax with an aperitivo based on the best Puglian delicacies.
- Evo Ristorante: elegant and refined, this restaurant in the heart of the city requires advance booking. Once at the table, however, you can let yourself be captivated by Chef Gianvito Matarrese's modern reinterpretation of Puglian cuisine.
- And then don't leave Alberobello without first trying the Pasqualino, a sandwich created in 1966 filled with tuna, capers, salami, and provola cheese. Over time, very few variations have been allowed for these ingredients, and you can enjoy the Pasqualino in practically all the traditional delis in the city. This sandwich was invented by Pasquale Dell’Erba, owner of a deli once located between Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Cesare Battisti, and a group of friends who used to order a sandwich with this mix of ingredients from him. The recipe then became very successful, and the Pasqualino became, between history and legend, the symbolic sandwich of Alberobello. Even today, it is prepared as it was 60 years ago, and tourists come here specifically to taste it!