Dry stone walls
These walls form seemingly endless lines in the landscape and are created without mortar, but simply through the judicious placement of one stone upon another in a delicate equilibrium. The tradition reaches back into distant times. In fact the earliest examples of dry stone wall in Puglia date from between 4,500 to 7000 years ago. The dry stone wall had a profound influence upon the nature of the Murgia landscape in that it turned a defect – that of unworkable fields strewn with rocks and stones- into a resource, with ample supplies of material for the demarcation and protection of cultivated areas. The walls also served as protection for livestock and a way of minimissing damage by fire and flooding, which was often so destructive to the thin topsoil. A large mass of rocks will also create condensation, which in turn is passed down to the surrounding soil. Furthermore, the walls also give protection to a host of different species of plants, small animals and insects, all of which find shelter among the spaces between the stones. and most important of Ruvo and is the hub of the old town.
