Italy's fantastical farmers' sheds

19 October 2013 Last updated at 20:14 ET By Dany Mitzman Valley of Itria, southern Italy

The latest property of choice for holiday home buyers in Southern Italy is not a rustic villa or a rambling farmhouse - it is a former farmer's shed, which would not look out of place on the set of Lord of the Rings.

Trulli are the trademark of Puglia - existing nowhere but the Valley of Itria. Round limestone buildings with conical roofs, they are as magical as they are historical. Dotted across the landscape, alone or in clusters, with one cone or even a dozen, they look like miniature rustic fairytale castles - Asterix meets Disney.

Originally nothing more than farmers' sheds used to store equipment or animals, the structure is made with the same drystone technique as the low walls that demarcate the olive groves. No cement, just local limestone cut into large, heavy slabs called chiancarelle - carefully positioned to make the perfect water-tight structure.

It is said that back in the 1600s, when there was a tax on new buildings, the locals built trulli so they could be dismantled when the inspectors came and rebuilt after they had gone.

In between viewings estate agent, Alessandro Melpignano tells us enthusiastically about the trullo revival. They became trendy holiday homes when the Trulli of Alberobello became a Unesco world heritage site in 1996.

"That is when the market really exploded", he explains. The first to buy were the Germans, who soon got fed up with break-ins. The British were hot on their heels.

"But they have stayed," says Melpignano. "And they are still buying. Low-cost flights to Bari and Brindisi have helped keep them coming."

Trulli need renovating every 100 to 150 years. It takes around a month to rebuild a cone and costs about 15,000 euros (12,700). Do they have experts who renovate and rebuild trulli? "Oh yes," he grins. "They are called trullari. And I know a master trullaro."

The next morning I go in search of Giovanni d'Errico and find him, unsurprisingly, building a trullo. If anybody ever looked the part, it is d'Errico, who bears an uncanny resemblance to a Hobbit.

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Italy's fantastical farmers' sheds