The trulli, limestone dwellings found in the southern region of Puglia, are remarkable examples of drywall construction. The trulli are made of roughly worked limestone boulders collected from neighbouring fields. Characteristically, they feature pyramidal, domed or conical roofs built up of corbelled limestone slabs.

In the southeastern part of Italy's southeastern-most region, there lies a most astounding valley; the Murge Valley which sits atop a thin layer of gray stone that tends to split horizontally into neatly stacked layers only 3 or 4 inches thick. These strata are fragile, so they also split vertically. As a consequence, the abundant rains that fall in the region sink immediately to very great depths, without soaking into the surface, so that actually water is extremely scarce.

Many centuries ago, the residents realized that they could use these flat square rocks to build houses with conical roofs that required no mortar (which of course requires water). These miraculous domes could also be erected without the aid of wooden scaffolding or skeletons....

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