Driving in Alberobello — Park Outside the Trulli and Walk the Cone-Roofed Lanes

Alberobello restricts traffic in and around the trulli districts with a ZTL and pedestrian zones, protecting the narrow lanes of these unique stone houses, with fines around EUR 83-160 for unauthorised entry. The trulli quarters are best explored on foot anyway. Park in a car park on the edge of the town and walk into the Rione Monti and Aia Piccola districts to wander among the cone-roofed houses.

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Trulli are traditional Puglian dry-stone houses with distinctive conical roofs built without mortar, often topped with decorative pinnacles and painted symbols, found in the Itria Valley and concentrated most famously in Alberobello, where over a thousand cluster in two old quarters. Many are now shops, holiday homes and even a church (the trullo church of Sant'Antonio). Their unique appearance, found nowhere else, is why the town is a UNESCO site and a major draw.

Use a car park on the edge of the town, then walk into the trulli districts. There are paid car parks within easy reach of the Rione Monti (the largest trulli quarter, now full of shops) and the Aia Piccola (a quieter, more residential trulli quarter). The lanes themselves are narrow and pedestrian, so leaving the car at the edge and walking is the only practical way to see the town.

Plan your trip costs including parking

It's the most famous stop in the Itria Valley, a region of trulli, whitewashed hill towns and olive groves in central Puglia. Nearby are the beautiful white towns of Locorotondo, Martina Franca and Cisternino, the cave town of Matera not too far off, and the baroque city of Lecce further south. A car is genuinely useful for touring these, parked outside the trulli zone when in Alberobello itself.

Not for the town itself — park on the edge and walk the trulli lanes. But a car is genuinely useful for exploring the Itria Valley and Puglia around it — the white towns, the coast, the olive country and the caves of Matera — since public transport between these is limited. Drive between them, parking outside each historic centre and walking in.