Since the Xylella Fastidiosa epidemic disaster, in Salento in 2013, the landscape of this region has undergone a sudden change. The death of thousands of olive trees and the consequent abandonment of farmland has rendered the established features of the landscape completely unrecognisable. Today, Borgo Monteruga appears as a barren, uncultivated land. The olives trees that for hundreds of years had shaped its landscape, are today fallen and scattered over the territory.
Monteruga is an agricultural village and is characterized by the presence of two key components. The first is the natural one, even if tamed by man. The second is the building sector, conceived at the service of agricultural production.The research project analyzes the conversion scenario of this landscape in the context of integrating the agricultural vocation of this landscape, the production of energy with photovoltaic systems, and the reactivation of the heritage of the historical village.
Riabitate Monteruga considers that the Apulian agricultural landscape comprises agrarian patterns and images. Each can be traced back to specific agricultural pieces that spontaneously determine a productive and diversified landscape when mixed.
Re-inhabit Monteruga is structured in 3 distinct but contextual actions
- restore = reactivate olive production to restore the economies of olive growing and the images associated with it;
- integrate agricultural production to produce a sustainable landscape with variable densities
- compensate = activate integration with the economic and socio-cultural system present in the area
Each project action is articulated by identifying an abacus of basic production blocks,100 x 100 meters in size, and infrastructural devices.
The overlapping and juxtaposition of identified pieces and devices draw the new landscape of Monteruga conceived about its tangible and intangible components. Re-inhabit Monteruga is possible through the synergy of these 3 actions.
Intervene, interfere, create alliances, and become part of something that changes as we understand it: re-inhabiting Monteruga does not mean bringing the agricultural village back to its origins but, starting from the interpretation of its potential, imagining a new balance.
