They are weird, and strange, and feel somewhat otherworldly. Approaching them on foot felt a little like discovering an alien village in some outer-space sci-fi movie, not a UNESCO-protected settlement in the south of Italy. Climbing a small rise, the details of the tiny dwellings become clear—round, white-washed base with a conical roof, some splashed with symbols of good luck, all of them hundreds of years old.
Trulli houses in Puglia. (essevu/Shutterstock)
Built of dry stone, and clearly crowded for even a single-family, why would anyone choose to live in such an odd dwelling? The experts disagree, but my guide expressed the prevailing theory—that it all had to do with taxation. These houses, known collectively as “trulli,” were built to be taken down, quickly. Generally erected in remote locations, residents would get some advance notice when the tax collector was approaching, and he couldn’t charge them for what wasn’t there. “Just by pulling out a few stones, they could collapse them, then rebuild quickly when he was gone,” she said, with a small smile….