When the southern sun hits walls whitewashed with lime, entire villages seem suspended between sky and earth. Italy’s white towns were not created for tourism, but are the result of practical, hygienic and even defensive choices developed over centuries. They are found mainly in the South, where white helped reflect the heat and brighten narrow, dark alleyways.
The white colour of the houses has very practical origins, tied to everyday life in the past. Lime was an inexpensive and readily available material, useful for bringing light into the narrow streets of medieval historic centres. The reasons this tradition became widespread can be summed up as follows,...
