In the Southern Italian region of Puglia exist unique huts made of stacked stone. Similar in size and appearance to igloos (minus the snow and ice), they have cone-shaped roofs and are accessible via a small door. They are called trulli, deriving from the Latin word turris, which means tower. The particular huts are specific to the Itria Valley, in the Murge area of Puglia, that is in the area between Bari, Taranto, and Brindisi.
The trulli were used as temporary field shelters and storehouses or as permanent dwellings by small proprietors or peasants. Though most extant trulli were built in the final decades of the 19th century, construction of the trullo derives from a primitive building technique. They are unique in that they are constructed entirely with dry-stacked limestone; that is, they are mortarless.
