Sustainable reuse of vernacular architecture for rural tourism development

Vernacular architecture refers to settlements, buildings and structures, whose characteristics exhibit the peculiarities of the site and the community they belong to. As a matter of fact, it is conceived as a response to the housing needs of the population, through local construction practice, based on the exploitation of natural and environmental conditions, the employment of available materials and the adaptation to the site climate and geomorphology. Nowadays, this architecture is acknowledged as a unique heritage to be preserved and protected as a testimony of bioclimatic, sustainable and resilient building solutions and techniques. Therefore, it is paramount to address its assessment and recovery through strategies of use and usability that should meet both conservation principles and compliance with current performance standards. Within this framework, the paper is going to focus to the qualification of ancient farmhouses in Apulia Region (South Italy) toward the definition of some typological “invariants” and the identification of compatible functions for tourism and hospitality. In detail, a case study is discussed, where the reuse and enhancement of a 18th century farmhouse and two groups of trulli in the countryside of the Murgia dei Trulli was achieved by the reconversion as a diffuse guesthouse for rural tourism.