From site http://www.puglianews.org/ the very interesting article by Francesco Giannini on the construction technique of the trulli, contains some interesting information about the symbols drawn in the bottom of the roofs on the side exposed to East or above the entrance: "They have been identified almost 200 different from each other" and their function, Giannini said, is not only aesthetic and decorative, but it has a value apotropaic with references to the world of religion, magic and astrology:
"These elements, as demonstrated by some recent studies, are due to cultural and religious relations occurred between Italy and the East in the early years of Christianity. Identical symbols, Egyptian and Palestinian ossuaries found in Roman catacombs, and are a confirmation of their Palestinian origin or Christian or Hellenistic-Jewish-Christian. These symbols, from the primitive pagan or Jewish, were subsequently revised in a Christian land in Puglia and through the arrival of monks and hermits from the East. Puglia, in fact, still is, but it was mainly in the past, a bridge between East and West, land of passage for pilgrims who came from Rome to the Holy Land for the monks direct from East Rome, just think to the hermits and monks in Eastern and the numerous rock-hewn churches in Puglia "
Some symbols that are categorized as primitive, seem related to druidic cults that were celebrated in the woods and the Apulian Murgia. Among the signs on these magical trulli include those of the zodiac, planets and astrology. Some religious symbols explicitly evoke the Christian religion: the monogram of Jesus, the Cross, which is the symbol most frequently used in different versions, the pierced heart of the Madonna, the alpha and omega, the chalice, the signs of the Passion, an angel , an ear of corn, a bunch of grapes, a star. The trulli are also animals and plants: horse, ox, rooster, eagle, snake, the vase of flowers, the ear of corn, the lily, the tree-bearer of an enormous amount of meaning-with the branches facing up or down, the plant clover
... "should be - concludes Giannini- carry out a census to know the extent of the presence of trulli in our area and to safeguard the integrity to deliver to future generations a good architectural and cultural heritage which in 1996 was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Even institutional bodies, through vocational training in the past years have organized courses for restorers of trulli, as were the old trullari to disappear and, with them, also a profession that was lost in the mists of time. "
"These elements, as demonstrated by some recent studies, are due to cultural and religious relations occurred between Italy and the East in the early years of Christianity. Identical symbols, Egyptian and Palestinian ossuaries found in Roman catacombs, and are a confirmation of their Palestinian origin or Christian or Hellenistic-Jewish-Christian. These symbols, from the primitive pagan or Jewish, were subsequently revised in a Christian land in Puglia and through the arrival of monks and hermits from the East. Puglia, in fact, still is, but it was mainly in the past, a bridge between East and West, land of passage for pilgrims who came from Rome to the Holy Land for the monks direct from East Rome, just think to the hermits and monks in Eastern and the numerous rock-hewn churches in Puglia "
Some symbols that are categorized as primitive, seem related to druidic cults that were celebrated in the woods and the Apulian Murgia. Among the signs on these magical trulli include those of the zodiac, planets and astrology. Some religious symbols explicitly evoke the Christian religion: the monogram of Jesus, the Cross, which is the symbol most frequently used in different versions, the pierced heart of the Madonna, the alpha and omega, the chalice, the signs of the Passion, an angel , an ear of corn, a bunch of grapes, a star. The trulli are also animals and plants: horse, ox, rooster, eagle, snake, the vase of flowers, the ear of corn, the lily, the tree-bearer of an enormous amount of meaning-with the branches facing up or down, the plant clover
... "should be - concludes Giannini- carry out a census to know the extent of the presence of trulli in our area and to safeguard the integrity to deliver to future generations a good architectural and cultural heritage which in 1996 was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Even institutional bodies, through vocational training in the past years have organized courses for restorers of trulli, as were the old trullari to disappear and, with them, also a profession that was lost in the mists of time. "
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