Population decline, the progressive reduction of services, and the weakening of connections are transforming many of Italy’s inner areas, making the gap between available resources and the capacity to activate them increasingly evident. In this context, numerous buildings and infrastructures are gradually losing their function and remain on the margins of contemporary territorial dynamics. Among the different forms of disused heritage, military sites present a specific condition. The loss of their original function is associated with a memory linked to conflict, which is often insufficiently acknowledged or difficult to reintegrate into collective life. The research takes the former military airport of Manduria (TA) as its case study. It is located within the Alto Salento Inner Area, comprising the municipalities of Avetrana, Manduria, Maruggio, Sava, and Torricella. This area was identified within the framework of the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI) in the 2021–2027 programming period. The site is investigated as an opportunity to explore the potential role of decommissioned military voids in the regeneration of territories affected by demographic fragility, limited access to services, and infrastructural discontinuities. The former airport represents one of the main traces of the military presence in the territory of Manduria. Built during the Second World War on the site of Masseria Schiavoni, it still preserves the runway, several buildings, and the overall layout of the former complex. The loss of its military function has transformed the site into a large unused infrastructure, separated both from the city and from the surrounding agricultural landscape. Through the cartographic and territorial analysis of Apulia and the Alto Salento Inner Area, together with specific historical and archival research on the former military airport of Manduria, the thesis lays the groundwork for the proposed strategy and design project. It brings together the area’s dispersed resources and places that already exist within the territory but are currently only weakly connected. Based on this reading, a trans-scalar strategy is developed around the concept of the constellation. It brings together places marked by a military past and difficult memories, buildings and spaces that are currently disused but retain historical value, and sites already active in the fields of culture and public use. The identified sites are organised into three layers and form a territorial network that can be activated through slow connections, practices of care, temporary uses, and forms of collaboration among institutions, associations, and local communities. The design focus concerns the reconfiguration and revitalization of the former military airport site. At the territorial scale, the project reverses the principle of military camouflage: the agricultural landscape, once altered by the construction of the airport, becomes the tool through which the site is reconnected to its surroundings. Existing buildings are reused through targeted interventions that preserve the legibility of the existing structures while introducing lightweight new volumes to accommodate meeting spaces, co-working areas, workshops, exhibitions, and educational activities. The aim of the thesis is to demonstrate how a military void can become a resource for the territory, generating new relationships between landscape, memory, community, and contemporary ways of inhabiting space.
Lo spopolamento, la progressiva riduzione dei servizi e l’indebolimento delle connessioni stanno trasformando molti territori interni italiani, rendendo sempre più evidente la distanza tra le risorse presenti e la capacità di attivarle. In questo scenario, numerosi edifici e infrastrutture perdono progressivamente la loro funzione, rimanendo ai margini delle dinamiche contemporanee del territorio.Tra le diverse forme di patrimonio dismesso, gli spazi militari presentano una condizione specifica. Alla perdita della funzione originaria si associa infatti una memoria legata al conflitto, spesso poco riconosciuta o difficile da reintegrare nella vita collettiva. La ricerca assume come caso studio l’ex aeroporto militare di Manduria (TA), collocato all’interno dell’Area Interna dell’Alto Salento, costituita dai comuni di Avetrana, Manduria, Maruggio, Sava e Torricella. Questa area è stata individuata nell’ambito della Strategia Nazionale per le Aree Interne (SNAI) nel nuovo ciclo di programmazione 2021-2027. Il sito viene analizzato come occasione per indagare il possibile ruolo dei vuoti militari dismessi nella rigenerazione di territori caratterizzati da fragilità demografiche, carenza di servizi e discontinuità infrastrutturali. L’ex aeroporto rappresenta una delle principali tracce della presenza militare nel territorio manduriano. Realizzato durante la Seconda guerra mondiale sull’area della Masseria Schiavoni, conserva ancora oggi la pista, alcuni edifici e la struttura generale dell’antico sedime. La perdita della funzione militare ha trasformato il complesso in una grande infrastruttura inutilizzata, separata sia dalla città sia dal paesaggio agricolo circostante. Attraverso l’analisi cartografica e territoriale della Puglia e dell’Area Interna dell’Alto Salento e attraverso la ricerca storico-archivistica specifica sull’ex aeroporto militare di Manduria, la tesi pone le basi per la strategia e il progetto, ponendo a sistema le risorse diffuse e luoghi già presenti sul territorio ma oggi poco connessi tra loro. A partire da questa lettura viene elaborata una strategia transcalare basata sul concetto di costellazione. Essa mette in relazione luoghi segnati da un passato militare e da memorie difficili, architetture e spazi oggi dismessi ma dotati di valore storico, e realtà già attive nel campo della cultura e della fruizione pubblica. Gli edifici individuati nell’area vengono organizzati in tre layers e creano una rete territoriale capace di attivarsi attraverso connessioni lente, pratiche di cura, usi temporanei e forme di collaborazione tra istituzioni, associazioni e comunità locali. L’affondo progettuale si concentra sulla riconfigurazione e riattivazione del sedime dell’ex aeroporto militare. A scala territoriale il progetto ribalta il principio del camouflage militare: il paesaggio agricolo, un tempo alterato dalla costruzione dell’aeroporto, diventa oggi lo strumento per riconnettere il sedime al territorio. Gli edifici esistenti vengono recuperati attraverso interventi puntuali che mantengono leggibili le preesistenze e introducono nuovi volumi leggeri per ospitare spazi di incontro, coworking, laboratori, mostre e attività formative. L’obiettivo della tesi è dimostrare come un vuoto militare possa diventare una risorsa per il territorio, generando nuove relazioni tra paesaggio, memoria, comunità e pratiche contemporanee di abitazione.
VUOTI MILITARI NELLE AREE INTERNE: ESPLORANDO I LAYERS DELLA MARGINALITA'
PEDALI, GAIA
2025/2026
Abstract
Population decline, the progressive reduction of services, and the weakening of connections are transforming many of Italy’s inner areas, making the gap between available resources and the capacity to activate them increasingly evident. In this context, numerous buildings and infrastructures are gradually losing their function and remain on the margins of contemporary territorial dynamics. Among the different forms of disused heritage, military sites present a specific condition. The loss of their original function is associated with a memory linked to conflict, which is often insufficiently acknowledged or difficult to reintegrate into collective life. The research takes the former military airport of Manduria (TA) as its case study. It is located within the Alto Salento Inner Area, comprising the municipalities of Avetrana, Manduria, Maruggio, Sava, and Torricella. This area was identified within the framework of the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI) in the 2021–2027 programming period. The site is investigated as an opportunity to explore the potential role of decommissioned military voids in the regeneration of territories affected by demographic fragility, limited access to services, and infrastructural discontinuities. The former airport represents one of the main traces of the military presence in the territory of Manduria. Built during the Second World War on the site of Masseria Schiavoni, it still preserves the runway, several buildings, and the overall layout of the former complex. The loss of its military function has transformed the site into a large unused infrastructure, separated both from the city and from the surrounding agricultural landscape. Through the cartographic and territorial analysis of Apulia and the Alto Salento Inner Area, together with specific historical and archival research on the former military airport of Manduria, the thesis lays the groundwork for the proposed strategy and design project. It brings together the area’s dispersed resources and places that already exist within the territory but are currently only weakly connected. Based on this reading, a trans-scalar strategy is developed around the concept of the constellation. It brings together places marked by a military past and difficult memories, buildings and spaces that are currently disused but retain historical value, and sites already active in the fields of culture and public use. The identified sites are organised into three layers and form a territorial network that can be activated through slow connections, practices of care, temporary uses, and forms of collaboration among institutions, associations, and local communities. The design focus concerns the reconfiguration and revitalization of the former military airport site. At the territorial scale, the project reverses the principle of military camouflage: the agricultural landscape, once altered by the construction of the airport, becomes the tool through which the site is reconnected to its surroundings. Existing buildings are reused through targeted interventions that preserve the legibility of the existing structures while introducing lightweight new volumes to accommodate meeting spaces, co-working areas, workshops, exhibitions, and educational activities. The aim of the thesis is to demonstrate how a military void can become a resource for the territory, generating new relationships between landscape, memory, community, and contemporary ways of inhabiting space.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12075/27772