Un mare verde: viaggio nella Terra dei Messapi = A green sea: journey into the land of the Messapians

The title of the essay, Green Sea: Journey into Land of the Messapi, focuses on the idea of exploring the territory of Salento, with a particular focus on the region of the Messapi, reclaiming the ability of architects to see with the eyes of a traveler, setting aside any romantic connotations of the term and referring to the possibility of interpreting the forms of the land by transporting them into dimensions beyond oneself. A plain, a sea. A region of the Mediterranean that has been the stage for various settlement models, with slow transformations and continual rewritings: Salento is described as a palimpsest that preserves traces and signs of different realities and visions, with Ugento, Manduria, and Oria testifying to ancient civilizations. This heterogeneous ensemble of small and medium centers constitutes a veritable ecosystem of relationships, an archipelago in a green sea.