GZS PTU CAMPUS

Vernacular
Architecture
Bathinda
Alberobello , Italy

Submitted to:
Ar.Kajal Handa

Submitted by:
Harshita
Maheshwari
B.Arch IX sem.
21012

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ms. HARSHITA MAHESHWARI has completed OF VERNACULAR

ARCHITECTURE this report under the guidance of Ar.KAJAL HANDA.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Doing this report was a very interesting challenge for me as I chose the UNESCO heritage site
named ALBROBELLO in Italy. Studying this place became my interest as it is a great example of
beautiful vernacular architecture. It inspired me to think of using local materials in construction
which depicts the cultural heritage of the town.
For the making of report, Ar.Kajal Handa has been mu keen support in every stage of it. She
guided me in throughout and has also helped me in understanding the construction techniques
and the materials used in trulli of Alberobello. I am very thankful to her for playing an important role
in completion of this report
HARSHITA MAHESHWARI

CONTENTS

ABSTRACT
The "Trulli" in Alberobello
The Trulli in the Apulian town of Alberobello are famous worldwide for their beauty and unique
characteristics, and represent one of the most extraordinary examples of Italian
folk architecture. They were built in a particular historical period, when the construction of stable
dwellings was highly-taxed; the inhabitants of the region thus boasted a great capacity to
adapt, and an exceptional cleverness in coming up with the idea for the Trulli, temporary houses
built with the local stone. The originality of the work earned the trulli of of Alberobello
(in Apulia) their recognition as a World Heritage Site.
The town is named after the primitive oak forest Arboris Belli (beautiful trees) that once covered
this area. Alberobello is universally-known as the capital of the Trulli. Here, each Trullo is of a
different shape and size. Unique constructions, they are sometimes combined in a complex of
communicating houses, while others are built on two levels. Most of them feature a grey coneshaped roof that ends with a sphere or hemisphere shape. The interior, arranged as a single
chamber, is constituted niches for a fireplace, bed and various furniture. The structure assures
excellent indoor climate control: cool in summer and warm in winter.
The interiors are equipped with wooden fittings, such as door frames, barrel-vaulted niches, etc.,
and in some of the larger trulli there is a second storey formed from a wooden floor and reached
by means of a wooden staircase. Stone fireplaces and ovens are ventilated through stone slabs
covering them. The roofs are not painted and develop a patina of mosses and lichens; they
sometimes bear mythological or religious symbols in white ash. By contrast, the walls of the trulli
must be whitewashed at regular intervals, which has the effect of rounding the outlines of the
stones, giving a brilliant homogeneous surface.
Some of the trull are now used for stores, restaurants, and lodging. But many are still inhabited by
locals, who are friendly to visitors. As a world herotage site, Alberobello is a tourist attraction, but
as it is less accessible from the tourist heavy west coast , it is not overrun by tourists , and most
tourists of Alberobello are Italians.
The town is in the centre of an annual pilgrimage to Basilica dedicated to the martyr saints Cosma
and Damiano.

INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE?
Vernacular architecture is a category of architecture based on local needs and construction materials,
and reflecting local traditions. It tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural,
technological, and historical context in which it exists. While often not thoroughly and academically
planned, this kind of architecture played and still plays a major role in the history of architecture and
design, especially in local branches.

1.Rondavel
in
Cameroon

2.A typical jungle hut in

Brazilian Amazonia, made
of straw and supported by
stilts.

3. Toda hut , Indian

Vernacular Architecture

4. Thatched Longhouse,
Wales

Architecture designed by professional architects is usually not considered to be vernacular.

Vernacular architecture is influenced by a great range of different aspects of human behaviour and
environment, leading to differing building forms for almost every different context; even neighbouring
villages may have subtly different approaches to the construction and use of their dwellings.
Every region has different construction material and techniques.
Taking an example of village in Italy, named ALBEROBELLO (Southern Region of Puglia).

5. Map of ALBEROBELLO

ITALY
LOCATION
Italy is located in Southern Europe and comprises the
italian peninsula and a number of islands including the two
largest , Silcily and Sardinia. The countrys total area is
3,01,230 square kilometres. It is situated at the meeting
point of Eurasian Plate and African Plate. Due to the
longitudnal extension of the peninsula and the mostly
mountainous internal conformation, the climate of italy is
highly diverse.

CLIMATE
Italy has a variety of climate systems. The inland northern
areas of Italy (for example Turin, Milan, and Bologna) have
a relatively cool, mid-latitude version of the Humid
subtropical climate , while the coastal areas of Liguria and
the peninsula south of Florence generally fit the
Mediterranean climate.
Summer is usually more stable, although the northern
regions often have thunderstorms in the afternoon/night
hours and some grey and rainy days. So, while south of
Florence the summer is typically dry and sunny, in the
north it tends to be more humid and cloudy. Spring and
Autumn weather can be very changeable, with sunny and
warm weeks (sometimes with Summer-like temperatures)
suddenly broken off by cold spells or followed by rainy and
cloudy weeks.
In the north precipitation is more evenly distributed during
the year, although the summer is usually slightly wetter.
Between November and March the Po valley is often
covered by fog, especially in the central zone.

ARCHITECTURE
Italy has a very broad and diverse architectural style, which
cannot be simply classified by period, but also by region,
due to Italy's division into several city-states until 1861.
However, this has created a highly diverse and eclectic
range in architectural designs. Italy is known for its
considerable architectural achievements, such as the
construction of arches, domes and similar structure during
Ancient Rome.
Several of the finest works in Western architecture, such
as the Colosseum, the Duomo of Milan, Florence cathedral
and the building designs of Venice are found in Italy. Italy
has an estimated total of 100,000 monuments of all
varieties (museums, palaces, buildings, statues, churches,
art galleries, villas, fountains, historic houses and
archaeological remains). It has widely influenced the
architecture of the world.

6. Map of ITALY

7. MONT BLANC
Highest mountain in Italy & Western Europe

8. FLORENCE CATHEDRAL
(Largest Brick Dome in the world)

ITALY

ECONOMY
Italy has a diversified industrial economy with high gross domestic product(GDP) per capita
and developed infrastructure. Milan is the financial centre of Italy. The main industries are
tourism, communications, machinery, steel, chemicals, motor vehicles, fashion, clothing etc.

CULTURE

10. Prada ( Brand)

9. Milan (Financial Centre)

More than 2,000 years Italy experienced migrations, invasions and was divided into may independent states
until 1861 when it became a nation-state. Despite the political and social isolation of these regions, Italys
contributions to the cultural and historical heritage of Europe and the world remain immense.
The famous elements of Italian culture are its art, music, fashion, and iconic food. Italy was the birthplace of
Opera, and for generations the language of opera was Italian. Popular tastes in drama in Italy have long
favoured comedy and is still performed today. The famous ballet dance also generated jn Italy. It is home to
the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

10. St. Peters Basilica

11. Monalisa Painting

12. Drama (Theatre)

CUISINE
Italian cuisine has developed through significant changes occurred with the discovery of the New World. it is
characterised by its simplicity, with many dishes having four to eight ingredients. Italian cooks rely chiefly on
the quality of the ingredients. Cheese and wine are a major part of the cuisine with many variations. Each
area has its own specifications , primarily at a regional level. Traditionally, meals in Italy usually contains 3 or
4 courses.

13. Pizza

14. Milanesa

15. Espresso (Coffee)

ALBEROBELLO
,ITALY
Alberobello, the city of drystone dwellings known as trulli , is an
exceptional example of vernacular architecture. It is one of the best
preserved and most homogeneous urban areas of this type in Europe.
Its special features, and the fact that the buildings are still occupied,
make it unique. It also represents a remarkable survival of prehistoric
building techniques. There was prehistoric settlement in the Itria and
the tholos (dome-shaped tomb) tradition of building may have come to
the region at this time.
However, recent research suggests that scattered rural
settlements that began around AD 1000 gradually
coalesced to form the village units of latter-day Aja
Piccola and Monti. Tradition has it that drystone walling
was imposed upon the new settlers so their houses
could be quickly dismantled. This served two purposes:
recalcitrant householders could be dispossessed easily
and, later, it would be possible to avoid taxation on new
settlements. In the latter case the buildings could be
reconstructed equally rapidly. This is known to have
occurred in 1644 to thwart tax inspectors sent by the
King of Naples. However, historical and comparative
analysis suggests that this technique was a minimal
physical response to local conditions, later to be
exploited for punitive purposes.

18. Front Facade

16.ALBEROBELLO,
ITALY

17.Dwellings

19. Section of a trulli

house

These buildings were constructed using roughly worked limestone boulders collected from
neighbouring fields and, later, the large water-collecting basins in the area. They were built directly on
the underlying natural rock, using exclusively the drystone technique. The walls that form the
rectangular rooms are double, with rubble cores, and are pierced by small windows. Fireplaces, ovens
and alcoves are recessed into the thickness of the walls. The roofs, which are also double-skinned,
spring directly from the walls, simple squinches allowing the transition from the rectangular to the
circular or oval sections of the roofs themselves. These are built up of successive courses of grey
limestone slabs, known as chianche or chiancarelle . The roofs of the larger building terminate in a
decorative pinnacle, often apotropaic in function. There are ingenious provisions for collecting
rainwater using projecting eaves at the base of the roof which divert the water through a channelled
slab into the cistern beneath the house. Flights of narrow stone steps give access to the roofs.

ALBEROBELLO
,ITALY

LOCATION

Alberobello is a small town in the province of Bari, in Puglia,

Italy. It has about 11,000 inhabitants and is famous for its trulli
construction. It is a part of UNESCO World Heritage sites list
since 1960.

GEOLOGY
The Murgia is a karst plateau. Winter rains drain through
the soil into fissures in the strata of limestone bedrock, and
flow through underground watercourses into the Adriatic.
There is no permanent surface water, and water for living
purposes must be trapped in catchment basins and
cisterns. The surface forms a landscape of rolling hills and
ridges punctuated now and again with dolines and other
forms of enclosed depressions characteristic of karsts.

CLIMATE
Alberobello enjoys a Mediterranean climate with mild
winters and hot, dry summers. It has an an average
temperature above 10C in their warmest months and
an average in the coldest between 18C to -3C.
20. Map Showing
Puglia

CLIMATE

HISTORY

21. Weather

There is evidence of prehistoric settlement in the Itria valley,

and it is possible that the tholos tradition of building may have
come to the region at this time. It is generally considered that
the present settlement dates from the mid-14th century, when
what appears at the time to have been an uninhabited area
was granted to the first Count of Conversano by Robert
d'Anjou, Prince of Taranto, in recognition of his service during
the Crusades.
22. Old trulli houses
Tradition has it that drystone walling was imposed upon the new settlers so that their houses could be
quickly dismantled. This served two purposes: recalcitrant householders could be dispossessed easily
and, later, it would be possible to avoid taxation on new settlements. In the latter case the buildings
could be reconstructed equally rapidly. This is known to have occurred in 1644 to thwart tax inspectors
sent by the King of Naples. However, historical and comparative analysis suggests that this technique
was no more than a minimal physical response to local conditions and circumstances, later to be
exploited for fiscal or punitive purposes.
By the mid-16th century the Monti area was already occupied by some forty trulli, but it was in 1620
that the settlement, then still part of the town of Noci, began to expand, when the Count of the period,
Gian Girolamo Guercio, ordered the construction of a bakery, a mill, and an inn. The name of
Alberobello was adopted, taken from the medieval Latin name of the region, silva arboris belli. From
this time onwards the construction of new trulli quickly declined.

ALBEROBELLO
,ITALY
APPROACH:
The easiest way to reach Alberobello is by train at Bari Central station it takes 1hr30min.
It can also be reached by carwith under an hours drive either bari or brindisi airport.

ATTRACTIONS:
Alberobellos attractions area all within walking distance. There are so many places to
roam around in Alberobello like Gargano National Park, Torre Canne Beach, Town Markets,
Churches, Museums, Castel De Monte etc.
Nearby you will find number of fascinating towns- for example, the white towns of
Locorotorondo, Cisternino and Ostuni. The caves of Castellana Grotte are spectacular.

22. Parrochia Santuairio

Basilica

23. Beauty of Trulli

houses

24. Acqua splash

Alberobello

FESTIVALS AND EVENTS:

In summers, Alberobello host a number of festivals. These include a significant
international folk festival, music festivals, dance, theatre, street theatre, and children
events. There are also religious festivalswith music performances and firework displays.
Most of the performances are free and open-air.
The town has vibrant passenggiata with summer strolls continuing beyound midnight.

CUISINE:
The most famous pasta made in this region is oricchiette made daily in most of the
villages. It has many delicious cheeses, most famous being burrata. Fish plays a large part
in the cuisine of Alberrobello. Lamb is the most popular meat, followed by pork and
horsemeat with beef. Inspite of this excess of food,the daily cuisine of this region tends to
be simple, fresh andwholesome with most locals growing, rearing and making enoughfor
their individual needs.

25. Festival Celebration

26. Cuisine

ALBEROBELLO
,ITALY

ARCHITECTU
Model
RE 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. The vault is one of stone voussoirs.
GROUPING:
The trullo is essentially a rural building type. With its thick walls
and its inability to form multi-story structures, it is wasteful of
ground space and consequently ill-suited to high density
settlement. However, being constructed of small stones, it has
a flexibility and adaptability of form which are most helpful in
tight urban situations.

27. Model of Trulli

28. Grouping of Trulli

houses

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. The Zone of Trulli on the western hill of town is a dense mass of 1500 beehive-shaped houses,
white-tipped as if dusted by snow. Buildings with conical roof made without mortar.

MATERIALS:

ALBEROBELLO
,ITALY

Depending on the area, the building material used could be either hard limestone or
calcareous tufa. These buildings were constructed using roughly worked limestone
boulders collected from neighbouring fields and, later, the large water-collecting basins in
the area. They were built directly on the underlying natural rock, using exclusively the
drystone technique.

MASONRY:

29. Wall made of

Limestone

Traditionally trulli were built using dry stone masonry, i.e. without any mortar or cement. This style of
construction is also prevalent in the surrounding countryside where most of the fields are separated by
dry-stone walls.
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 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. The walls that form the
rectangular rooms are double, with rubble
cores, and are pierced by small windows..
Even the temperature is controlled in this
type of wall as in summers , there is cool
inside house and in winters, there is warm
but not always. The walls of the trullo's base
are usually more than three feet thick, and
30. Section showing
they commonly have in-built niches or crude
the layers of wall
sinks.

ALBEROBELLO
The roofs are constructed in two skins: an,ITALY
inner skin of limestone voussoirs, capped by a closing stone, and an
ROOFS:

outer skin of limestone slabs that are slightly tilted outwardly, ensuring that the structure is watertight. The roof
stones can be taken away without compromising the stability of the rest. Pitch of roof is 55-60 degrees.
Limestone

Broken
Stone Pieces

Limestone
Slabs

32. 3 Layers of roof

31. Typical Section of

Roof
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 which in many cases supported the floor of
the house. There are ingenious provisions for collecting rainwater using
projecting eaves at the base of the roof which divert the water through a
channelled slab into the cistern beneath the house. This ensured that
each house has its own water supply. The cistern sits below trullo,
where evaporation is minimized and convenient access is had.
This integrated water catchment helped
insure survival in an arid land.

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, cistern as the case may be.
The planning of Alberobello is not based on any pattern but there are
groupings of some houses together and by the evidence of 19 th century
the groupings to be constructed were decided to be two or three. The
construction technique makes it climate friendly.

34. Plan of Alberobello

Cistern
33. Section showing
Cistern

35. Rectangular Plans of

Trullos

PINNACLES:

ALBEROBELLO
,ITALY

In Alberobello atop a trullo's cone 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, and is
supposed to be the signature of the stonemason who built the trullo.

36. Types of Pinnacles on

the roof top

36a. Pinnacle

36b. Pinnacles

WHITEWASHED SYMBOLS:
Additionally, the cone itself 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 cross, a
cross on a heart pierced by an arrow (representing Santa Maria Addolorata, i.e. 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 the local basilica is dedicated to and quite a few
others.

37. Symbols on roof

38. Symbols painted on roof

ALBEROBELLO
,ITALY
CONSTRUCTION OF TRULLO:
ABOUT TRULLO:Trulli look like clusters of white haystacks. Compelling yet simple, the top of each room
in a trullo structure is a beehive-shaped dome of dry stacked limestone. In their design, the trulli show
strongly repetitive themes. The rooms are connected via barrel vault or lintelled passages, and the roofline
reflects each passage as a parabolic curve from dome top to dome top. The footprint of each room is
roughly square, 9-15 feet per wall length, and at door lintel height, the corners corbelling to achieve
circularity within one or two courses.
STEPS OF CONSTRUCTION OF A TRULLI:
1. Firstly, the limestone from the fields takes a chisel very nicely. The importance of maintaining surface to
surface friction through tight fitting cannot be overemphasized in load bearing dry stack work. A close
look at the stones which comprise the dome's outer skin show remarkable workmanship. Each one is
slightly radiused with respect to the trullo's central vertical axis, with a slightly tapered top to help shed
water. These shingle stones, called chiancarelle, are laid with an outward pitch just a few degrees
below level and are uniform to the extent that, though they are dry laid, it is rare to see any missing in
even the unrestored trullo. The rocks which comprise the inner skin of the dome are also finely worked.
The top of each one leans out farther than the bottom, but this is not achieved by tipping a rectangular
stone; each one is shaped so that the joints stay roughly horizontal when laid. Each stone is a true
corbel, projecting past the stones below such that the face conforms to the dome's lateral and vertical
curves. The dome is 14-20 inches thick and its two skins entomb a lot of rock shims and fill material.

39. Limestone in Fields

40. Image showing the

initial stage of construction
of trulli houses . Walls are
constructed with the arches
or lintels.

ALBEROBELLO
,ITALY
2. Secondly, the rural masons who
built the trulli knew that each course of a dome, once
complete and installed,
established load bearing integrity called ring tension. It stands to reason that the outer
skin was installed immediately after the inner, course by course, so that each top course
would serve as a narrow scaffolding upon which men could walk and work.

41. Image showing the

icompete construction of
the walls and providing
wooden support for the
dome to be constructed

42. Image showing the

completion stage of roof.

3. Finally, the profile of the interior of the trullo dome closely resembles a kind of blunttipped Gothic arch. The
Gothic arch has characteristically near-straight shoulders, which eliminates the forces of
horizontal thrust better than other arch profiles, thus increasing its stability as a free standing form.

43. Image showing the

completion of a trulli house
with dome

44. Finally the exterior and the

interior surface of the walls get
whitewashed

ALBEROBELLO
,ITALY

INTERIORS:

The vast majority of trulli have one room under each conical roof, with additional living
spaces in arched alcoves. Children would sleep in alcoves made in the wall with curtains hung
in front. A multiroomed trullo house has many cones representing a room each. Along with its
exterior wall, a trullo's interior room and vault intrados were often rendered with lime plaster
and whitewashed for protection against drafts. 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 too thick
and warm air will rise up the interior cone.
The thick stone walls and dome of the trullo, pleasantly cool in the summer, tend to become
unpleasantly cold during the winter months, condensing the moisture given off by cooking
and breathing and 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.
1. Loft as Storage
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

45. Section of a trulli House

46. Dining Area

47. Kitchen

Pinnacle
Roof
Bedroom
Cooking alcove
Main Entrance
Pipe to Cistern

WINDOWS:

ALBEROBELLO
,ITALY

Owing to the concentration of houses, trulli have few openings outside their doorway and a small aperture
provided in the roof cone for ventilation. As a result, it can be quite dark inside.

48. A Ventilator at the Entrance

FACADES:

49. Window in
the Roof

Some trullo houses have had their perimeter walls substantially raised so that their cones can be hidden
from view, making the buildings look like 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 grain, hay or straw
storage .

50. Image showing attractive facades of trulli

houses