- trullo
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/trooh"loh/, n., pl. trulli /-lee/.a dwelling of the Apulia region of Italy, roofed with conical constructions of corbeled dry masonry.[1905-10 < It < Apulian dial. truddu < MGk, LGk tryllos cupola, ult. < L trulla ladle, scoop (cf. TROWEL), prob. by intermediary sense "cup, goblet"; cf. similar development of CUPOLA]
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Circular stone building roofed with a conical construction of dry stone masonry, unique to the region of Puglia in southeastern Italy and especially to the town of Alberobello, where trulli are used as dwellings.Trulli were built by piling circular courses of gray stone to a pinnacle on a whitewashed cylindrical wall. No mortar was used; the stones were held in place by gravity and pressure against one another.* * *
plural Trulli,conical, stone-roofed building unique to the regione of Puglia (Apulia) in southeastern Italy and especially to the town of Alberobello, where they are used as dwellings. Upon a whitewashed cylindrical wall, circles of gray stone, held in place by lateral opposition and gravity and without mortar, were piled to a pinnacle. Probably originating with a local Stone Age culture, the trulli have been perpetuated as a folk tradition, possibly because of the local shortage of lumber and the abundance of stone fragments that must be removed to permit land cultivation. Trulli are protected by Italian law as national monuments.* * *
Universalium. 2010.