Alberobello

A whole town of trulli, round dry-stone huts with conical roofs, unique to this corner of Puglia. The trick was tax: built without mortar, a trullo could be pulled down fast when the inspector came and rebuilt after, so a feudal lord could pretend his town did not exist. The result is more than a thousand whitewashed cones packed into two districts, some roof-stones painted with faded symbols. It should not have survived the 20th century, but it did, and now it is protected: a loophole in stone, turned into one of Italy's strangest streetscapes.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.