East Coast Italy: Alberobello

Note to readers: This post is part of the previous post (Ostuni)

Around some curves and over a few hills we reached our next stop- Alberobello. I've been hearing about this town since I first arrived to Italy because of its proximaty to Naples and the oh so adorable trulli houses. 

So what's a trullo? 

One of these round roofed buildings. They are unique to Puglia region of southern Italy and seem to have prominent the 19th century. It is thought they were originally built to serve as temporary store houses in the fields for crops. The dome roof allowed for a loft like structure, keeping the harvest dry in the winter and up off the ground. As they grew in popularity, some people actually resided in these houses, but with multiple domes each serving as a room.

Of course one of the most famous stories for the creation of these homes is just how easily they can be knocked down. Why? Well, in true Southern Italy fashion it's rumored that these houses were dismantled when inspectors made their round to avoid high property taxation. Yep, only in Italy. 

At any rate in our post yummy lunch state (grilled meats) we were two of the few tourists walking the streets of this popular destination. As we walked up to check out the view from one of the houses (now transformed to shop) we heard it: thunder. And no, it wasn't hard to hear at all considering the dark clouds and location of the lightning flashing wasn't too far off in the distance. Luckily, the partially blue sky held for us as we continued to explore more allies and shops. Our favorite shop? Oh the one selling pasta, sweets, and lemoncello...but in just about any flavor. The girl waved us in the shop and within seconds told us to sample the chocolate and rice candy before setting it aside to pull out cups and the first flavor of 'cello.  And then the second, followed by the third, followed by, well, you get it. Almond, Olive & Rosemary, Chocolate & Pepper, Hazelnut, Passionfruit, Bitter Almond, Rose, Strawberry, Coffee.
 
I think that's all we "sampled" and of course each round had a candy, nut, or cookie to taste. Our search for gelato was quickly abandoned. When I told her that I lived in Naples she said she'd skip the lemoncello one then, because Sorrento had the best. At least she knows that! We left there with 3 bottles each.

Our meandering through the rest of the hill was meandering. I mean...have you carried a box of 6 bottles of before? Arm work out! As we continued there was the cutest little boy sitting at the entry way of the trulli arranging plastic fruit on his table. I was too busy snapping a picture but I should have asked him how much and made his day with a sale. Of course you could hear his mom laughing at him from inside the house but he was providing some great entertainment of us. 

As the weather continued to turn for the worse and the desire to nap kicked in, we decided to call it a day and head back to her new trulli for riposo before continuing enjoying the delicious beverages we purchased later that evening.