Leisurely Lecce - Day 3

March 27th

For our third and last day in Lecce, we decided to spend it in Alberobello.  

A trullo (trulli is plural) house is a traditional Apulian dry stone hut.  

Apulia is the region in which Alberobello and Lecce are.

Originally the houses were built as temporary field shelters and it was only later, in the 19th century, that they were used as permanent structures.

Examples of different trulli house toppers.  The text says

The monumental area of Alberobello, unique in the world for its landscape, lies between two hills, Aia Piccola and Rione dei Monti, separated by a depression.  In 1996 the trulli of Alberobello were made World Heritage with the following motivation:  "they constitute a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a vanished civilization and tradition; they offer an eminent example of human settlement representative of culture..."  These are buildings with an ancient and fascinating history, probably deriving from the ancient tholoi (structures with a central plan with dome roofs), with which they have in common the cylindrical shape and the cone roof, while for the rest thy are wholly original constructions.  Entirely built in stone, without mortar or any type of binder, the trulli obey a primitive constructive criterion with extremely effective statics.  The roof is crowned by a pinnacle, a distinctive element generally formed by three superimposed stones: one cylindrical, one dish-shaped, and one spherical.  Interpretations of its meaning range from magic value to purely ornamental purposes.  The mysterious signs painted on the cones of the trulli are instead real magic and propitiatory symbols, some of pagan origin, others Christian.  From the vantage point next to the Santa Lucia church there is a complete panoramic view of the immense Monumental Area.

Then there's some bits about directions around town.  

Trulli houses, and tourists taking photos with other tourists' red vespas.

If these looked slightly more like mushrooms, I'd say we'd found the Smurf village.

A guide to the interior layout of the trulli and the various symbols painted on the houses.
Translating this took time, you're welcome:

1.  Simboli Ptimitivi (Primitive Symbols) we have 
Tree cross that unites the three worlds- heaven, land, and underworld 
Seven-fold candlestick (Hebrew) 
Sign in which there are the I,E,L,A,H initial letters of the name of Jesus inscribed in the circle which means the world 
The prayer that the world turns to God 
Prayer lifted up to God from the earthly world and the underworld
Spoked Cross


2.  Simboli Magici (Magic Symbols) we have 
Symbol of Mercury 
Symbol of Jupiter 
Symbol of Saturn 
Omega, meaning God, inscribed with a cross (or maybe Terra?) 
Trident, meaning the Trinity (or maybe Neptune?) 
Symbol in which there are the trident cross, I E L initials of Jesus on the circle which means the world (or maybe Uranus, or the Starship Enterprise?)


3.  Simboli Christiani (Christian Symbols) we have 
The Chrismon 
Host with radials with the inscription IHS meaning "Jesus" 
Pierced heart of Mary 
The vessel which means sanctifying grace and the clover seedling symbolizing the trinity 
Sun-Christ Symbol 
Cross with two dots meaning the cosmos 

So...I dunno about you, but several of the "non-Christian symbols" seem pretty Christian.  I'm not an expert in trulli house symbols, but maybe the person who made this made some mistakes.

They also kind of look like traditional beehives.

Look how cute this weird little town thing is.

I'm really glad we spent our last day in Lecce up in Alberobello.
It was really cool to see these funny houses.

This concludes our adventure.