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Every year hundreds of thousands of northern European tourists travel to the sunny Adriatic beaches of Puglia and while there take day-trips to view the many whitewashed villages, and the trulli of the the Valle d’Itria. Atroshencko and Grundy provide a classic explanation for "white villages": "for centuries, the inhabitants of these villages lived almost at subsistence level. There is a notable absence of unnecessary ornamentation on the buildings. Nothing is ‘fashionable’ or disposable. There is no conspicuous waste. Each village keeps its integrity; it does not lose its soul. There are constant, delightful juxtapositions of strong, natural forms and ever new and varied spaces. Based on the regenerative realities of the locale, this approach to building enabled tradition to act as an invisible hand (my emphasis), guiding the parts toward a unified and ordered completeness. Additions ‘grew’ adjacent to existing structures. The builders created practical, complex and visually stunning environments without destroying the unity of the village; viewed from afar, it is elegant, sculptural form that fits naturally into the landscape (5-6). It has practical aspects also: the whitewash protects against disease and reflects the summer heat off the walls; the hillside site provides drainage; the civic identity and cooperation necessary for the preservation and protection of the village has remained intact down the centuries. The whitewashed village is a functional organism that meets the requirements for shelter, work, quiet and social intercourse. Each element feels unique, especially the dwellings, whose scale, asymmetry and flexibility create endless combinations. These villages allow variations of the whole in order to fit individual needs. Here in these beautiful environments we see solutions to many universal problems facing the world, and they are worth emulating" (1991:6). |
