Fifteen hundred dry-stone cones climbing a hillside: Alberobello's Rione Monti is the largest concentration of trulli in existence, UNESCO-listed since 1996. The tax legend is true: the Acquaviva counts imposed mortarless construction, quickly dismantled at each royal inspection — so feudal cunning produced, without meaning to, a landscape unique on earth.
What to see
The district's lanes of shop-trulli and lime-painted symbols on the cones; the trullo church of Saint Anthony at the top of the climb; and across town the Trullo Sovrano, the only two-storey one, furnished as it was. The Aia Piccola quarter, less commercial, keeps its trulli inhabited and quiet.
Visiting
Half a day for the two districts; the belvederes across the valley (Largo Martellotta and the Santa Lucia terrace) give the full sweep of grey cones. Many shop-trulli offer "free" rooftop terraces: a small purchase is the implicit toll.
Getting there
Alberobello is under an hour from Bari: Ferrovie Sud Est train or car on the Taranto road. Park around Largo Martellotta, then everything on foot.
Our editors' tip
Sleep in a trullo and step out at seven: Rione Monti with no shops open and no groups, cones steaming in first light, is a true fairy-tale village. And cross to Aia Piccola at sunset: there the trulli sell nothing, and for that reason tell more.