Le Marche

February 21, 2002

Dear International Living Reader,

"Le Marche" means "the border area." During the early Middle Ages, it marked the edge of the Holy Roman Empire.

In modern-day Italy, Le Marche is the region to the east of Tuscany and Umbria, with a long stretch of coast along the Adriatic. Same beautiful countryside. Same Renaissance architecture. Picture-book medieval hill towns. But because few think of it...lower prices.

A Trulli Different Experience

21 Via Monte Nero, Alberobello...my own little Italian hobbit-hole. I'm now the temporary resident of an Apulian trullo.

Of obscure and ancient origin, these tiny dwellings are peculiar to the region's Itria Valley, 80 minutes by very slow train from Bari on the Adriatic coast. A trullo (plural trulli) looks like a whitewashed beehive with a conical roof of unmortared gray stones. Many trulli--mine included--have their roofs daubed with mystical symbols that seem to relate to magic or fertility. And all are crowned with decorative white stone knobs called pinnacoli.

With more than 1,400 of these fairytale houses and also a trullo church, Alberobello is Trulli Central. More a large village than a town, it's divided into a modern quarter and two trulli neighborhoods called Rione Monti and Aia Piccola. Most trulli date from the 16th century. They can be single dwellings (mine is approx 370 square feet), or multiple cones...as families grew they added additional circular rooms to the original.

Of course, being so unique, Alberobello isn't undiscovered territory. In my view, it has far too many gift shops selling ceramic trulli, but at this time of year tourists are scarce. The village has a nice feel, and when the moon rises and the lamps go on it's like wandering through a Tolkienesque fantasy.

But Alberobello isn't the only place to find trulli homes. The Itria Valley is clustered with them. Today is Sunday, so my real estate research will have to wait until tomorrow. Meantime, a word of caution: Although trulli look adorable, I wouldn't be tempted to buy one, at least not for year-round living.

If the electricity fails, as mine did at 10:30 last night, a trullo feels as cold and damp as a tomb. Without another form of heating, I slept in two jumpers, woolly tights, and socks...and was still frozen. I'm thankful my husband isn't here to moan about "living like a local" again. I hate to think what he'd say about the Stone Age shower...

But if you want the experience, contact Dino Barnaba, Trullidea, Via Monte Nero 15, Alberobello; tel. (39) 0804-323-860; e-mail: info@trullidea.com. I'm paying $42 per night for my trullo, which sleeps two. The price includes a simple breakfast at a nearby restaurant, but the hobbit-hole also has cooking facilities--primitive, but you can boil water for coffee.

P.S. Off-putting name, but Ristorante Terminal (Via Independenza 4, Alberobello) is top-rate. First came four free antipasti--olives, toasted almond flakes, bruschetta daubed with olive oil and tomato pulp, and a tiny half-moon cheese pie--none of which I had ordered, incidentally! Then seafood risotto followed by swordfish in a lemon sauce with grilled aubergines on the side. Half a liter of wine, water, and coffee, and the bill came to $19.

How Much for a Trulli?

"Bueno stato"...good condition. A beehive-shaped trullo with electricity, seven cones, three habitable rooms, and bathroom, on 5,500 square feet of land, for €36,000, approximately $32,000.

Prices in this part of Apulia are unbelievable. I haven't seen anything like them elsewhere in Italy. Single trulli to restore (they're so simply built they wouldn't take a lot of reconstruction work) start at $11,000. Three-roomed trulli to restore...$18,000...and I saw one at that price with 10,000 square feet of land.

Admittedly, you may have to go to $27,000 for a very small restored trullo in popular Alberobello (something that would suit a small couple of elves as a holiday home), but elsewhere in the Itria Valley or Martina Franca area, prices are astounding.

And not just for trulli. A new villa singola of 1,250 square feet with flat roof, whitewashed walls, and 33,000 square feet of land for $78,000.

Having only found one realtor in Alberobello (and he does not parla Inglese), I traveled farther along the Itria Valley this morning...rich red earth, olive trees, tiny stone walls that look like they've been transported from Ireland. I got off the train at Martina Franca, a more sizeable town that fits my idea of a baroque beauty. Its loveliness is not immediately apparent if you arrive by train, but trust me on this. Beyond the modern apartment blocks is a perfectly preserved centro storico of gleaming white houses with green shutters and balconies made from stone or wrought iron.

I drew a complete blank with realtors here. There are a few, here but none of the ones I called into speak English. Incidentally, neither did the old boy manning the tourist office, but he sent me on my way with a handful of free postcards.

However, in the Gabetti agency it was all "s'accomodi" (sit yourself down, make yourself comfortable). I learned that homes in Martina Franca's historic center range from $47,000 for a 500-square-foot casa indepenente to $320,000 for a 3,000-square-foot palazinna with Gothic arches and stained-glass windows on via Arco Fumarola, deep in the heart of the labyrinth. Although I saw this property only from the outside, it looked gorgeously romantic.

The star trullo on Gabetti's books is priced at $102,000 and in excellent (''ottimamente'') condition. Fully restored, it has cotto floors, is heated by both electricity and wood-burning stoves, has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and two little "dipendenzas" (separate studio apartments that could be rented to tourists). The land it sits on amounts to 55,000 square feet.

If you speak Italian (or can find an interpreter), contact Luciana Fiolmena at Gabetti, Via Verdi 8, Martina Franca, Puglia (Apulia); tel. (39) 080-4306-853; e-mail: martinafranca@gabetti.it.

Steenie Harvey
Roving Euro Editor, International Living