Inhabiting the productive landscape of Puglia. Masseria Pantano, Jazzo Pantano and Jazzo di Figlia in Alta Murge

Abstract

The urban exodus and the 2020 health crisis highlighted the shortcomings of many cities and revived interest in living in closer contact with nature. However, globalization and intensive agriculture are threatening traditional productive landscapes; the return to rural areas has often generated interventions that overlook the local context and damage fragile ecosystems. To protect these territories, it is essential to study rural architectures born out of necessity and deeply rooted in their surroundings.
In Puglia, the network of masserie and jazzi, built in stone by anonymous artisans over centuries, forms an anthropized landscape shaped by essential agricultural practices. This study focuses on three structures in the Alta Murgia, located close to one another but set in different orographic conditions: the Masseria Pantano, situated on the cultivated plain, which allows territorial control and access to scarce water resources; the Jazzo Pantano, which adapts to the slope and acts as an inclined fortified structure facilitating the natural drainage of livestock wastewater; and the Jazzo di Figlio, embedded between rocks and forest, fragmented across the mountain’s strata and taking advantage of the steep terrain to camouflage its volume and collect rain-water.
This settlement system represents a paradigm of architecture in harmony with local climate, topography, materials, and construction techniques. The research integrates updated cartographies, GIS-BIM technologies, territorial sections, photographic documentation, and 3D modeling to understand how these constructions respond to agricultural uses and environmental conditions. The conclusions explore the adaptive logic of anonymous peasants and builders and reaffirm the relevance of these solutions as references for a respectful and sustainable contemporary way of inhabiting the landscape.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.35.2025.11