Trullo Sovrano

Trullo Sovrano is Alberobello's best-known two-storey trullo, distinguished by a masonry staircase, a dome about fourteen metres high and a rare noble façade. Preserved as a house museum, it retains furnishings that show how a trullo home was organised.

Why it matters

The building is among the earliest trulli known to have been constructed with mortar, setting it apart from the dry-stone dwellings around it. UNESCO names it among the specific locations within the inscribed World Heritage property. Declared a national monument in 1923, it became an important focus for the protection of Alberobello's trulli.

What to notice

The façade rises into a triangular fronton above the roofline. Inside, twelve cones cluster around the central dome. The house museum preserves a sequence of rooms including the main hall, bedrooms, dining room and kitchen. A masonry staircase built into a load-bearing wall leads to the upper floor. The displayed furnishings and objects are authentic, most dating from around the early twentieth century.

Context and history

The house museum traces the oldest wing to the early seventeenth century and the main body to the first half of the eighteenth century, when it was built for the family of priest Cataldo Perta. A notarial deed dated 15 April 1797 records modifications to the dwelling, and the façade dates to 1797 or earlier. Over time the building served as a chapel, apothecary, monastic dwelling and rural oratory. In the early nineteenth century it sheltered relics of Alberobello's patron saints; from 1826 it housed the Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament. The Sumerano family later acquired the property and remains its owner.