The building of trulli started in the village of Alberobello (now trulli's capital) and from there spread in the surrounding area. The whole process took several hundred years and was helped by the presence of natural stone quarries in the area.

Recent archaeological discoveries show that Alberobello's territory has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age and the trullo would come to Apulia during prehistoric times, around the 13th century B.C. after a Cretan or Mycenaean migration.
In fact the trulli's cones building technique is very ancient and would be a masonry derivative of the primitive hut.

There are not many records of the trulli history and development during the centuries, and more reliable information can only be found from the 15th century and onwards.

In 1481 Alberobello's territory became part of the Conversano's County. From that moment on, the Counts of Conversano began to bring in the selva (woods) people coming from the village of Noci and other feuds, to cultivate it with the purpose of transforming the forest into sowing fields, to grow cereals and collect the tithe. The whole process was unknown to the Royal Government in Naples and the Counts of Conversano were in this way able to avoid paying due taxes on buildings and their inhabitants.

This peopling action happened, in fact, in a very silent way, officially Alberobello wouldn't exist, and in this manner the Conversano Counts were able to develop a system of immunities and exemptions that also increased a "fleeing of families" from the nearby villages.

This phenomenon, though, provoked conflicts with the close by communities, especially with Martina Franca, reaching its peak in 1626, with the investiture of Giangirolamo II. Under his government, in fact, the peopling of the wood was substantial, to the point of provoking an accusation by the Martina's Duke to the Viceroy in Naples.

The Royal Tribunal sent a commissary to proceed with an inspection, but Giangirolamo II, informed in time, ordered the trulli to be knocked down, eliminating in this way the focus of the investigation. From then on, the Conversano's Counts imposed to build dry stone trulli to make demolition easier in case of future inspections. After that, many of the concessions given to the colonials were cut down, provoking several rebellions in the population, which, due to its civil invisibility, didn't enjoy any protection by the feudal power.

Between the second half of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century the two monumental areas and most of the trulli along the Town Hall - Church axis were built.

In 1797, during his stay in Taranto, the King Ferdinando IV, after many requests by the population, decided to look over Alberobello's situation. On May the 23rd 1797, Alberobello became "Royal Town", with all the guarantees that this meant.
At the same time, the first trullo was built with lime and no longer with dry stone, to emphasize the occurred freedom.

The architectural elements that distinguish trulli from any other buildings are: the stone arcs, the cones, the ledge, the chimneypot, the gutters and the spout, the "chianche" (flat stones) roof, the pinnacle and the several symbols used for the decoration (monograms, emblems, initials and magical signs).

The whole structure is built with local limestone. In ancient times the stones were irregular, while the more recent ones are regular and well ordered.

Made of concentric stone rings, the trullo's roof is laid on the supporting structure, with a slight overhang towards the interior. The structure is painted with lime, while the roof, made in order to  facilitate the flowing of the rain water, remain unpainted.

 The rain water is channeled towards an underground cistern.

 The pinnacle on top of the trullo has a decorative purpose, but also  locks the last layers of stone in place.

Internally, the intention was that the owner would modify the utilisation of the various rooms and because the trulli are a modular structure, he could add new rooms to adapt to the family's needs.

Building a wooden mezzanine would allow the interior of the conical roof to become a deposit for tools, food or as the children's bedroom.

Alcoves were used as bedrooms and didn't have windows, whilst "focarili" (fire place rooms) were used for food preparation and heat production.

Click above to enlarge

The use of decorations is to be reconnected with a primitive magic and religious symbology that can be divided into: primitive (normally geometrical shapes linked to the numbers 3, 5, 7), magic (astrological and planetary signs), pagan (connected with animal cults), Christian (linked with the Catholic Church), ornamental and grotesque (coming out of the owner's own fantasy).

On December 7th 1996, the UNESCO inserted the "Trulli of Alberobello" into the list of world wonders:

"to be protected and preserved as unique and exceptional marks of a disappeared civilization and cultural tradition, offering an example of building techniques relative to a meaningful historical moment, constituting an example of human dwelling representative of a culture".