Donnapaola Modern Farm

Socio-economic fabric of rural areas

ABSTRACT

Donnapaola is a modern farm near to Altamura, where rurality, animal husbandry and the recovery of jazzi and wild herbs for medicinal purposes coexist with a rural hub project for art. The Donnapaola farm cover almost three hundred hectares of area in a state of semi-desertification and subjected to a series of constraints within the SCI area of Alta Murgia, restoring the dry stone walls on 14 kilometers of sheep tracks and creating eco-compatible structures to house podolian cows, donkeys and horses and where to recover the over 500 mapped pabular species in collaboration with the University of Bari and on which a young doctoral student is working, engaged in research activities for the next three years. At Donnapaola the aim is to implement the concept of Arts Farm, using the languages and good practices of contemporary art. The structure also includes classrooms, exhibition rooms and artistic workshops, a taste laboratory, a restaurant and rooms furnished with works of modern art for a total of 40 beds. A multifunctionality oriented towards the recovery of the Internal Areas that are part of the Murgia area and which has found its added value in plural female relationships. The artistic area of Donnapaola's activities is coordinated by Antonella Marino, journalist and art critic, while the scientific coordination of anthropological research is carried out by Laura Marchetti.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Context
Donnapaola takes the name from Paola Labarile, a young disabled entrepreneur, born in 1989, musicologist, three degrees and the idea of giving life back, together with her father Vito and brother Francesco, to a semi-desertified part of the Apulian territory. Donnapaola is located in a central area of Puglia, between the Murgia dei Trulli to the south, which is very anthropized, and an area to the north towards Castel Del Monte and wants to become an innovative system of integration between natural attractor and new cultural attractor, a place where people can gather local communities, tourists, artists, teachers and students, implementing a pilot model of management, resuscitation and re-appropriation of the territory and its traditions.

Aims &Objectives

recovery of semi-desertified area with farming systems with special care to animal welfare;
recovery, mapping and reuse of medicinal plants;
creation of a rural and cultural hub;
activation of experiential rural tourism;
animation and re-appropriation of identity of the territory and its rural traditions involving both the local area and a wider area of Alta Murgia.

Activities

First settlement in agriculture - Supporting young people's access to agricultural entrepreneurship for: ensuring generational replacement, creating innovative companies geared to developing new products and new market outlets, supporting and consolidating the socio-economic fabric in rural areas (M6.1 - 4.1 B);
Redevelopment of dry stone walls and existing buildings for preserving, protecting and spreading biodiversity and agro-forestry systems of high naturalistic value, mitigating hydrogeological risks, improving soil management (M4.4A);
Mapping of stable essences: mapping of 500 pabular essences present in the area of the farm, an expression of biodiversity, for a research project in collaboration with the University of Bari, performed with GPS;
Construction in compliance with landscape constraints: implementation of the interventions of Submeasure 4.4 A in the territory with priority to the territories falling within the Natura 2000 Area (SCI, SPA, IBA) and in high value sites naturalistic (M4.4A);
Creation of prototype stables: a new generation prototype stables that are well integrated into the surrounding environment and made with eco-sustainable materials (stone,wood) (M6.1 - 4.1 B);
Provision of underground services: design of underground systems respecting the landscape (presence of underground and hidden cables);
Provision of fiber optic structures for internet connections: service for farm guests
Partecipation to the project Radici e Ali supported by POR FESR 2014-2020, Apulia Region for the statup creation of the rural and creative hub in Donnapaola Modern Farm: aggregation of the concept of rurality with contemporary art as a new way of enjoying the Murgia territory;
Promotion of cultural aggregation events on the farm: events for guests of the farm for agricultural, tourist, educational and artistic experiences (M6.4).

Main target groups of the project/initiative:

Internal communities of Alta Murgia;
Tourists interested in discovering authentic rural realities;
Artistic communities interested in recovering the connection between art and culture.

RESULTS

Quantitative results include:

biodiversity conservation in Alta Murgia: 500 pabular essences present in the farm area, medicinal plants such as honeysuckle, hawthorn, butcher's broom, dog rose as well as aromatic plants such as thyme, rosemary, mint, as well as alimurgical plants including asparagus, borage, dandelion and many others;
valorization of the breeding of native breeds: the farm has around 100 cattle, the activities are strictly in the wild with herds of Podolian cows, a high quality meat and milk breed, which can be found free grazing in the woods;
new job creation: approximately 5 units.

Qualitative benefits include:

a multifunctionality oriented towards the recovery of Internal Areas;
female entrepreneurship for fragile subject;
creation of a new type of rural business : the activities start from the union between art and nature, art and landscape, art and food, art and anthropology, art and crafts. In fact, Donnapaola is a natural attractor of the Apulian regional territory and is, according to an integrated system logic, also a cultural attractor. The Arts Farm of Donnapaola includes a training and study center including a Center for art and environmental biodiversity in which to investigate the most innovative themes that are emerging at an international level on the relationships between art, agriculture, biodiversity, ecosystems; Archive, an archive of knowledge of the Alta Murgia dedicated to the collection of memories, narratives, songs, rituals, traditions, landscapes and hopes for the future of rural culture, and an international Academy of food and wine cultures to study, experiment, protect, defend and live the essence of food and wine cultures.

CONCLUSIONS

Lessons & Recommendations
Donnapaola is a project created to give a new opportunity to a young woman who was not afraid of her disability, supported by her family. From a rural point of view, the challenge of recovering a complex area and diversifying the farm's offering by creating connections with the world of contemporary arts, brings together the authenticity of the internal areas of Puglia with the innovativeness of an idea of hospitality that aims to get to know the rural world.