Cambiamenti nei paesaggi dell’acqua in Puglia tra tecnologie tradizionali e grande idraulica

Beyond the evolution of traditional water technologies in the «Apulia siticulosa», as Orazio defined it in the I century b.C., the paper discusses deep changes produced in the aftermath of the unification of Italy, with the beginning of the construction of the largest aqueduct in Europe. Its gigantic effort for the domestication of water produced a deep change in the conception of technology and technological progress, as well as in the relationship between local communities and their territory. This paper analyses premises, strategies and consequences of that process of radical technological change; it emphasizes how that heroic vision of technology supported strategies for territorial development with deep environmental problems and produced a self-sustained paradigm of water scarcity. On the other hand, the paper shows the connection of some more recent initiatives for the rehabilitation of traditional water technologies to a far-sighted territorial strategy aimed to the valorization of the stratified (historical, territorial and socio-cultural) local heritage and cultural identities.