Urban settlements, rural architectures and conversion of the landscapes of Basilicata during Land Reform. Documentary research and knowledge about the restoration of the village of Santa Maria d'Irsi

The history of the Second postwar period, related to the agrarian question, recorded in Italy a decisive turning point; the tradition of special measures, which began in the liberal age for the southern regions, was presented again in 1950 with the agrarian Reform. The Reform redrew the Italian land geography, in order to "attack" the great land ownership and to permit, through a more equitable distribution of land, the loosening of the social tensions related to the persistence of the latifundium. In this view, it was essential the action of the Entities of the Reform that, through detailed plans, gave life to rural villages rationally organized. The villages, in fact, were the object of experiments by famous architects and planners of the time that had the opportunity to "draw" a small city in all its parts, thinking of those small towns as little communitarian urbanized poles, self-sufficient, which included accommodations for farm families and services. These are still an interesting example of urban planning, architectural and technological, almost innovative for its time and still "current", through which you can read the basic thesis of the reform plan. There are many interventions in Basilicata, with particular concentration in the area of Matera. In the countryside of Irsina, in an area with agricultural vocation, lies the village of Santa Maria d’Irsi: a first draft was written in 1947 and led to the creation of the “Villaggio Defense” while with Reform Entity the same would be revised and expanded. Modular terraced homes, equipped with gardens, outdoor ovens and animal shelters, the police station, the church, the school building and the civic building, become an urbanized sign within a homogeneous landscape. Analyzing and documenting this heritage, through the examination of documentary sources and field surveys, represents an opportunity for the knowledge of a piece of the history of the built not yet subject to constraints and, therefore, considered minor. This value leads to question of what could be their future compatible reuse. Surely it is necessary to update this relationship between town and country, between built and agricultural landscape, between modernity and history. In the specific case of Santa Maria d’Irsi there was, in recent years, the partial recovery of the buildings from the public part redeployed to the rehabilitation center for people with addictions. The attempt to define a "good practice" of recovery and re-use of these sites definitely starts by an in-depth process knowledge, where research can define the basic elements to be considered in a process of revitalization