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Alberobello: 1,500 trulli, and one ticket at €2.50

The UNESCO listing at Alberobello covers more than 1,500 trulli in the Monti and Aia Piccola districts, but the one building you buy a ticket for is the Trullo Sovrano, at €2.50 (2026).

1,500 trulli on 10.52 hectares

The protected zone covers 10.52 hectares in two districts, Rione Monti and Rione Aia Piccola, and holds more than 1,500 trulli. It has been on the World Heritage list since 1996, under criteria (iii), (iv) and (v).

That is just over a tenth of a square kilometer. The listing is two neighborhoods, not the whole town.

Dry stone, no mortar, and a cistern underneath

Each trullo is built in dry stone with limestone slabs called chiancarelle, without mortar: a double wall with loose fill between, and an underground cistern that collects rainwater.

That construction is what the listing protects. The conical roofs are the part everyone photographs; the cistern under the floor is the part nobody sees.

Built from the 1500s, stopped after 1797

Trulli stood in Rione Monti by the middle of the 16th century, the town grew after 1620, and in 1797 Ferdinand IV of Bourbon made Alberobello a royal city, after which new trulli stopped being built.

Parts of the town were declared a national monument between 1909 and 1936, sixty years before UNESCO.

The Trullo Sovrano: €2.50 and a midday break

The Trullo Sovrano, at Piazza Sacramento 10, is visited on a single €2.50 ticket (2026). The hours are split: 10 am to 12:45 pm and 3:30 to 6:30 pm from April to October, 10 am to 12:45 pm and 3:30 to 6 pm from November to March.

The midday gap is the trap. The shop trulli in Rione Monti stay open through lunch and the Sovrano doesn't, so an arrival at 1 pm means waiting until 3:30.

What the official site does not say

The official site does not publish the height, the number of floors or the century of construction of the Trullo Sovrano.

Those figures appear on plenty of other pages. They're left out here until the operator publishes them, because a number repeated often enough starts to look sourced when it isn't.

Castel del Monte, for the same trip

Castel del Monte at Andria costs €9 full and €2 reduced, and €12 on a combined ticket with the Castello di Trani (2026).

Next to that, the Trullo Sovrano is a €2.50 stop, and the real cost of Alberobello is time around the midday closure rather than money. Details at Castel del Monte, the region at Puglia, and the full list at UNESCO sites in Puglia.

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FAQ

Can you go inside a trullo in Alberobello?

Yes. The Trullo Sovrano at Piazza Sacramento 10 is run as a monument and opens on a €2.50 ticket (2026). Many trulli in Rione Monti are shops you can also walk into, and those don't close at lunchtime.

What time does the Trullo Sovrano close for lunch?

At 12:45 pm, reopening at 3:30 pm, all year (2026). It then closes at 6:30 pm from April to October and at 6 pm from November to March. The shop trulli of Rione Monti do not take the same break.

When were the trulli of Alberobello listed by UNESCO?

In 1996, under criteria (iii), (iv) and (v). The listed zone covers 10.52 hectares in Rione Monti and Rione Aia Piccola and holds more than 1,500 trulli, built in dry stone with no mortar.

Is the Trullo Sovrano the only two-story trullo?

The official site does not publish its height, its number of floors or its date of construction, so that claim is unconfirmed. It circulates widely online. This site leaves it out until the operator states it.

Section and topics

Sources (3)

  1. 1787 · 10.52Ministero della cultura - Ufficio UNESCO; Commissione Nazionale Italiana per l'UNESCO · recheck by 2099-12-31
  2. 22.5Trullo Sovrano - Alberobello; doc 2 · recheck by 2027-06-30
  3. 39 · 2 · 12Castel del Monte - Ministero della cultura · recheck by 2027-06-30