Fifty-six kilometres south of the Puglian port city of Bari, on the heel of Italy's boot, I could see several small stone huts with conical rock-covered roofs scattered among the olive trees on both sides of the road. Reminiscent of teepees or tiny forts, these structures were unlike anything I'd ever encountered.

While Puglia is famed for its buttery green olive oil, fruity red wines and orecchiette pasta with broccoli rabe, it's also known for these ancient architectural wonders called trulli (singular, trullo). Found throughout the Itria Valley – where there are approximately 50,000 in total – trulli are particularly abundant in the town of Alberobello, where roughly 1,500 of them pack the districts of Rione Monti and Rione Aja Piccola.