The first records of Trulli being built in Puglia date from around the 14th century. The likely reason for their design was to create housing that could be easily demolished, enabling the feudal lord to avoid paying taxes on new settlements as well as making it easy to remove unwanted tenants!

What is the history of trulli?

The traditional trulli have a singular history; some scholars believe that they were as present as early as the 14th century, but it is in the 15th century that they have had their greatest expansion, coinciding with an edict of the Kingdom of Naples that imposed tributes to each new urban settlement.

Who built the trulli in Puglia?

The trulli shape may have arrived in Puglia with the Greeks, who colonized this area of Italy as early as the 8th century BC. Some historians have theorized that trulli are similar in design to early Greek funeral monuments.