Iazzo, Heritage, Heritage2000, Stone

Stone Dwellings in Puglia
(Produced in 1998)

Page 1

Welcome.
This is a collection of stone building pictures in Puglia (Apulia), Italy, that tells a fascinating and unique story of stone dwelling architecture by peasants in this region.

Puglia is a region in the south-eastern corner of Italy with Bari as its regional government seat.

The ability of mankind to work with stone to make shelters, construct aqueducts, and build cities is the hallmark of human civilization. Each corner of the world has its unique stonework, a Darwinian variation of human civilization. Each work tells a story of a land, its people, and a time.

In the south-east corner of Italy, the very heel of the boot, a region called Apulia, the story of man and its stone dwellings is unique and fascinating. It tells about man-made caves from the time of the crusades carved on the side of sandstone hills, of a town with cone-shape roofs, and of whitewashed old towns clustered like beehives.

It is a unique architectural expression that coexists next to castles and basilicas of various times. It is a peasant architecture: simple ways for poor people to carve a home from their stony environment. It is an architecture that depends on the Roman arc and vaulting to create shelters from stone rubble that littered the landscape. In its naked and simple form, this architecture celebrates man's inventiveness to defy gravity and arrange stone pieces to stand over their head, roofs that have withstood for centuries.

While they do not compare to the sophistication and grandiosity of Rome, Florence, Paris, and a many other places in Europe, they are just as fascinating to experience. If you are in the neighborhood, it is worthwhile to go and visit these places.

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