– a tourist hot spot, but quaint and pretty –
Today we were going to spend half a day in the most touristy town in the region: Alberobello. By all accounts it’s overrun by tourists (which it was) but nonetheless it’s worthwhile seeing because it’s a UNESCO site. Also true.
The town is fairly ordinary at its edges but once you reach the historic centre, it’s a little Disneyland of trulli houses. At the risk of repeating all the tourist blurb, it genuinely looks like the inspiration for Tolkien’s hobbit town (whatever that was called).
I think the town is best described visually, so here our photos from the day. We started at Rione Aia Piccola which is essentially lined by trulli which have been turned into souvenir shops.
We were offered the opportunity by one shop owner to take in the rooftop view. Beautiful.
There were various paper mache artworks scattered around town. We were told that they were lit at night – which would be very pretty.
We visited a trullo museum, where they had set up the interiors with traditional furnishings.
Time for a very pleasant lunch. Calum and I had orecchiette which is a Puglia specialty. Niran had a fresh mozzarella and fresh vegetable “spaghetti” dish. Both were very nice.
We spent quite a lot of time in a napery store, would you believe! One of the crafts practised in the village is hand weaving and there were some very beautiful tablecloths for sale – apparently handwoven by the elderly mother of the lady who ran the store. The tablecloth we were interested in was absolutely beautiful – still deciding whether it’s a purchase… Here are some photos of the handiwork.
And one of the types of machines that the fabric is woven on:
Some more wandering after lunch in the less-touristy, residential area known as Rione Aia Piccola:
At one point a gentleman welcomed us into his home. Turned out that he and his wife were quite the entrepreneurs and offered visits for a small “donation”. Apparently we were in esteemed company – footballers and pop stars had been in her house! And we were reassured that it was an “original” trulli unlike everything in the UNESCO-protected area….mmm..it was fun listening to her talk while she shelled her broad beans, and eventually some other tourists joined us which relieved the stress a little..
We spent a little longer wandering the town and then headed back to the car. By this time the heat was blistering. We spent the rest of the afternoon at our own lovely trulli home – no need to view with the tourist crowds here!
