Natural Stone and World Heritage: Itria Valley and Alberobello, Apulia Region, Italy

Apulian limestones constitute the historic building constructions of the Puglia region (in the south of Italy) named trulli (representing an outstanding universal value for UNESCO), but also other stone buildings of the well-known Itria Valley. Trulli are drywall (mortarless) constructions made of roughly worked limestone blocks collected from neighbouring fields. The limestone for trulli is quarried from different Apulian localities and, together with another local lithotype, represents the stone heritage of the Itria Valley. This book begins with an introduction to the region of southern Italy where trulli and other typical stone architecture can be found. The Itria Valley with its towns and landscape and the town of Alberobello are described from an architectural point of view. The second section describes the different examples of building constructions in local stone of the Itria Valley, focusing on ancient and contemporary quarries. In this part petrographic and physical mechanical characteristics of the main kind of limestones are reported and discussed. The third part focuses on the main examples of stone architecture of Itria Valley, distinguishing the historical rural buildings from the other historical civil ones. In this section particular attention is given to best practices of evaluation action, protection rules and restoration methods for stone heritage in Itria Valley and Alberobello. This book serves as a useful source of information to geologists, archaeologists, architects, historians and stone industry operators specifically, and to academic and non-academic communities, travellers, and tourism industry operators in general. The book will also be of interest to students, researchers, and rock enthusiasts spanning all age groups and academic levels.