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You arrive in Alberobello in the last light of evening , when this small town in Puglia turns gold and grey . Whitewashed houses climb the hillside in tight rows , and every one wears a roof shaped like a cone . The real skyline is stranger and quieter than the photographs promised . Your key opens a trullo , a stone house with a cone roof , now a small guesthouse . Inside , the round white walls are almost a metre thick , and the air stays cool without any machine . The old stone does the work of air conditioning in Puglia 's fierce summers . The walls are built in dry stone , without any mortar . A local legend explains why : in the 17th century , under the counts of Conversano , a proper house meant a royal tax . Dry - stone homes could be pulled down quickly when inspectors approached , then rebuilt after they left . Historians debate the details , but the walls have stood for centuries . In the morning , wander through Rione Monti , where about 1,000 cone - roofed houses crowd the slope . Many have become souvenir shops , cafés and guesthouses , though some families still live inside them . A short walk away , the Trullo Sovrano , the only such house with two floors , now welcomes visitors as a house museum . Study each roof , each grey cone . Many are painted with white symbols : crosses , hearts and stars , some religious and some from older folk traditions . Each cone is finished with a decorative stone pinnacle , the signature of its builder . UNESCO added Alberobello to its World Heritage list in 1996 . Back at your little trullo , drink coffee while the sun climbs over hundreds of stone cones . The dry stone that once dodged a tax collector kept you cool all night , and each roof will keep guests warm in winter . You came for a photograph ; you leave with respect for stone laid patiently by hand .
