Editing Trullo (section)

==Architecture==

===Grouping===
The trullo is essentially a rural building type. With its thick walls and its inability to form multi-storey structures, it is an inefficient use of ground space and consequently ill-suited for high density settlement. Being constructed of small stones, however, it has a flexibility and adaptability of form making the design most helpful in tight urban situations.<ref>Edward Allen, "Stone shelters", the MIT, 1969, third printing 1974, 210 p., p. 84.</ref>

In the countryside, trullo domes were built singly or in groups of up to five, or sometimes, in large farmyard clusters of a dozen or two dozen, but never for the occupancy of more than a single rural family.<ref name="autogenerated84">Edward Allen, "Stone shelters", op. cit., p. 84.</ref>

===Materials===
[[File:Alberobello BW 2016-10-16 13-02-33.jpg|thumb|Recessed entrance to a trullo complex.]]
Depending on the area, the building material used could be either hard limestone or calcareous [[tufa]].

===Masonry===
Traditionally trulli were built using [[dry stone]] masonry, i.e. without any mortar or cement. This style of construction also is prevalent in the surrounding countryside where most of the fields are separated by [[dry-stone wall]]s.

===Walls===
In Alberobello, the structural walls of a trullo are laid directly on the bedrock, after removal of the topsoil when necessary. Their width varies from 0.80 metres to 2.70 metres (a measure recorded in the Trullo Sovrano). Their height (from ground level to where the vault starts) ranges from 1.60 metres to 2 metres. Their exterior facing has a 3 to 5% batter.<ref>[http://www.trullinet.com/clienti/trulliforsale/pinnacoli.htm I pinnacoli], trullinet.com : "Lo spessore dei muri dei nostri Trulli va da un minimo di 80 cm. fino ai 270 cm del TRULLO SOVRANO."</ref>

===Underground cistern===
The stones needed for starting to build a trullo were provided by digging a [[cistern]] (''cisterna''), an absolute necessity in an area devoid of water. The cistern was capped with a lime-mortared barrel vault or dome that in many cases, supported the floor of the house.<ref>Edward Allen, "Stone shelters", p. 80 : "If a cistern had been dug, it was capped with a lime-mortared barrel vault or dome which in many cases supported the floor of the house."</ref>

===Roofs===
[[File:Trulli - Alberobello, Bari, Italy - August 15, 2010 01.jpg|thumb|left|Renovated stone roofs.]]
The roofs are constructed in two skins: an inner skin of limestone [[voussoir]]s, capped by a closing stone, and an outer skin of limestone slabs that are slightly tilted outwardly, ensuring that the structure is watertight. The roof stones may be taken away without compromising the stability of the rest of the building.

===Plans===
The trullo may take on a circular or a square plan. The circular trullo is mostly a temporary shelter for animals and their fodder, or, for the peasant himself.

The trullo that is part of a grouping of three, four, or five follows a squarish plan. It may serve as a kitchen, bedroom, animal shelter, store room for food or tools, oven, or cistern, as the case may be.<ref>Desplanques Henri, [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/geo_0003-4010_1972_num_81_446_18769_T1_0473_0000_4 Deux études sur la maison rurale dans le Mezzogiorno : C. Colamonico, O. Baldacci, A. Bissanti, L. Ranieri, B. Spano, ''La Casa rurale nella Puglia'', et M. Cataudella, ''La Casa rurale nel Molise''], in ''[[Annales de géographie]]'', année 1972, vol. 81, n° 446, p. 473-475.</ref>

In Alberobello, groupings did not exceed two ''trulli'', as evidenced by nineteenth-century notarial deeds.<ref>Angelo Ambrosi, Raffaele Panella, Giuseppe Radicchio, a cura di Enrico Degano, ''Storia e Destino dei Trulli di Alberobello - Prontuario per il restauro'', Schena Editore, 1997, pp. 65-66.</ref>

===Pinnacles===
In Alberobello, atop the cone of a trullo, there is normally a hand-worked sandstone pinnacle (''pinnacolo''), that may be one of many designs: disk, ball, cone, bowl, polyhedron, or a combination thereof, that is supposed to be the signature of the stonemason who built the trullo.<ref>[http://www.trullinet.com/clienti/trulliforsale/pinnacoli.htm I PINNACOLI]: ''Principalmente sono scolpiti in pietra e rappresentano la FIRMA del Mastro trullaro che li ha edificati e che molto spesso coincideva con l'appartenenza della famiglia''.</ref>

===Whitewashed symbols===
[[File:A cross... (6145235744).jpg|thumb|A whitewashed [[Christian cross]] on a renovated stone roof.]]
Additionally, the cone may have a symbol painted on it (as shown in the picture of the trulli in Alberobello.) Such symbols may include Christian symbols such as a simple [[Christian cross|cross]], a cross on a heart pierced by an arrow (representing ''Santa Maria Addolorata'' ("Our Lady of Sorrows"), a circle divided into four quarters with the letters S, C, S, D in them (for ''Sanctus Christus'' and ''Sanctus Dominus'' according to one source, but more likely, the initials of ''Santo Cosma'' and ''Santo Damiano'', the two saints to whom the local basilica is dedicated) and quite a few others.

The symbols now visible on a row of trulli in via Monte Pertica (cross, pierced heart, host with rays radiating from it, tree, dove symbolising the Holy Spirit, and crescent with a cross) were painted only in the late twentieth century and the early 2000s when the roof cones were renovated.<ref>See [http://www.pierreseche.com/alberobello_monte_pertica.htm "The trulli or casedde of Alberobello, province of Bari, Italy, through old postcards and photos: The changing face of via Monte Pertica in the Monti district (1950–2010),"] ''pierreseche.com'', 20 January 2011.</ref>

The quaint symbols that grace the trullo-like cones of bungalows at the Hotel dei Trulli in Alberobello first appeared in the late 1950s, when the hotel resort was built.<ref>See "Les trulli ou casedde d'Alberobello (province de Bari, Italie) à travers les cartes postales et photos anciennes: l'hôtel des trulli," ''pierreseche.com'', 1 July 2011.</ref>

===Interiors===
[[Image:Trullo (spaccato).jpg|thumb|right|Model showing the typical construction technique of a trullo of [[Alberobello]]; the cavity between the inside ashlar wall face and the exterior covering of stone tiles or ''chiancharelle'' is filled with stone rubble and the vault is one of stone [[voussoir]]s.]]
The vast majority of trulli have one room under each conical roof, with additional living spaces in arched [[Alcove (architecture)|alcoves]]. Children would sleep in [[alcove (architecture)|alcove]]s made in the wall with curtains hung to separate them from the central room.

A multi-room trullo house has many cones, each representing a separate room.

Along with its exterior wall, a trullo's interior room and vault intrados often were rendered with lime plaster and whitewashed for protection against drafts.<ref>Edward Allen, op. cit., p. 82.</ref>

The trulli used as dwellings all have an open fireplace complete with a flue (hidden in the masonry) and a stone-built chimney stack (rising high above the roof). Because of their design, trulli are difficult to heat: the walls are very thick and warm air will rise up the interior cone. An alternative heating solution was to use a central [[Brasero (heater)|brasero]] with embers in it (a specimen may be seen in Alberobello's Museo del Territorio).

The thick stone walls and dome of the trullo that cool pleasantly during the summer, tend to become unpleasantly cold during the winter months, condensing the moisture given off by cooking and breathing, making it difficult to feel warm even in front of the fire. The inhabitants simply leave the doors open during the day to keep the interior dry, and live more outdoors than in.<ref>Edward Allen, op. cit., p. 81-82.</ref>

In trulli that were used as stables, the troughs the animals fed from may still be seen.<ref>[http://www.lifeinitaly.com/tourism/puglia/trulli-1.asp The Trulli of Puglia], ''lifeinitaly.com''.</ref>

===Windows===
Owing to the concentration of houses, trulli have few openings except for their doorway and a small aperture provided in the roof cone for ventilation, this coupled with the extremely high thermal inertia makes them warmer in winter and cooler in the summer.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1 June 2014|title=Trulli|url=https://www.regionepuglia.org/trulli-pugliesi/|access-date=1 February 2022|website=Regione Puglia|language=it-IT}}</ref> On the other hand trulli can be quite dark inside.<ref>Paula Hardy, Abigail Hole, Olivia Pozzan, ''Puglia & Basilicata", Lonely Planet, 2008, 248 p., p. 124 : "However, (...) due to the compact nature of the Rione the trulli have few windows and can be quite dark."</ref>

===Façades===
Some trullo houses have had their perimeter walls raised substantially so that their cones may be hidden from view, making the buildings resemble ordinary houses.

A number of conical roofs have a truncated top with a round hole in it covered by a movable circular slab. Access to the hole is by an outside stairway built into the roof. These trulli were for storage of grain, hay, or straw.<ref>Edward Allen, "Stone shelters", op. cit., fig. 16 & pages 110-111.</ref>
<gallery class="center">
Trulli_2005.jpg|Two contiguous trulli (Alberobello)
Normal_house_or_trullo%3F_(6145236754).jpg|Trullo house with raised façade wall hiding both its conical roofs (Alberobello)
File:Alberobello Trullo Sovrano (3).jpg|Trullo Sovrano, built on two levels with internal staircase
Cime_trulli.JPG|Carved stone pinnacles atop refurbished trullo cones (Alberobello)
Trullo_roof_(6144685861).jpg|Entrance of a trullo (Alberobello)
</gallery>