Stone architecture in the stone landscape of middle Apulia and local people role

The proposed paper wants to show a partial result of a research carried on by the Laboratory of Architectural History, Restoration and Archaeology of the Bari Polytechnic, on the Murgian rural areas and cities. There are investigated the changes in the rural landscape and the relationship between historic centers and the landscape in this area, with a particular focus on the polycentric system of the three historical cities of Acquaviva delle Fonti, Altamura and Gravina that represent the core of the homogenous territory of the “Alta Murgia” National Park. This area, in the recent past suffered heavy transformation induced by the change of the economic and production patterns, enduring changes in the type of processing for the typical crops with important territorial transformations. With the abandonment of the old farms and the stone clearance of fields. Moreover, the industrial develop of the Nineteen seventy, centered on the manufacturer activities, that is decreasing in the last decades, produced a heavy change in the living and mobility habits of the local population. However, the specificity of this landscape continues to be a value that may be the flywheel for a revival of a local culture and a local economy to the historic centers of this area. Moreover, these sites founded their own cultural identity and their wellness also on traditional products and on historical tourist attractions of this territory. The community, with a long participative process, is now identifying some urban areas (not only in the city centers) for the renovation of the productive activities, particularly oriented to the youth population linked to the cultural activities and especially connected to restoring the traditional relationship between city and landscape by requalifying the agricultural quality production.