Can principles of local action, mutual aid and intergenerational cohesion help to revive rural areas? Jessica Girardi immersed herself in this question during a month-long Forum Synergies scholarship hosted by the Porto di Terra collective in Sicily in August-September 2024. She found living proof that rural areas can be dynamic, progressive and experimental. Letter by Jessica Girardi.
Rural and mountainous areas of inland Italy face many challenges: aging, depopulation, remoteness, weak communication infrastructures, poor services and more. In this context, why would young people decide to set up a collective in rural Sicily?
Enacting alternatives from the bottom up
The inner rural areas of Sicily face depopulation and unemployment, particularly evident in the Madonie region, centrally located on the island and comprising 21 interconnected municipalities. Within this area, numerous abandoned residential structures and orchards accentuate the prevailing challenges.
An innovative approach to communal living as a strategy that allows the establishment of services, as well as promoting community value and the rehabilitation of housing structures would allow vulnerabilities to be transformed into strengths. Exploring and experimenting with new forms of habitation would stimulate local economies and facilitate repopulation. In this context, the Porto di Terra experience is significant.
The Porto di Terra collective started in 2012 around the area of Trapani in north-west Sicily. Four couples started the co-living experience on a friend’s farm. Four years later, the non-profit organization was founded, and the following year Porto di Terra was established in the Madonie Regional Park, close to Polizzi Generosa, a village of around 3,000 people where the majority of the population is over 50 years old. Porto di Terra headquarters is around 9 km from the village, in a big old house surrounded by 7 hectares of land.
The Porto di Terra collective aims to take care of the land, soil health and community health, with small-scale food production, an art space and ecotourism. These young people were drawn to this area by the possibility of access to land, but also the different rhythm, the quality of the time spent living, working and interacting with others, and creating intergenerational cohesion.
All the members agree that the alternative to the current political-economic system lies in experiments, in enacting alternative ways of living and producing from the bottom up. Porto di Terra is a place for playing with ideas and putting into practice ways of co-existing with each other and with the landscape.
Networking is a key word in the Porto di Terra mission, and my traineeship is an example of this, thanks to the collaboration with Forum Synergies. Cooperations are created not only at European scale, but also with other organizations in the region and country.
Local action is another central concept, and a special focus is given to strengthening the community. After settling in the area, one must learn how to live in the place, take care of water, cultivate the land, and integrate with other inhabitants through daily interactions with local people, asking to share their knowledge, becoming part of this rural community, with a new role.
Agroecology and permaculture
Several Porto di Terra members grow vegetables in private and shared gardens. Among the typical varieties grown are two plants that are registered as part of a Slow Food presidium: the white/black bean ‘fagiolo badda’ and the ‘pipiddu di Polizzi’ pepper. Other vegetable varieties are part of the seed savers collection, or exchanged with local farmers.
I helped with the consolidation of the bamboo cane structure for climbing beans, vegetable harvesting and starting to remove summer crops for winter garden planning. Bamboo canes are used as the support structure for bean plantlets, and are prepared using a Sicilian tool called a runcigghiu.
In boundary hedges, several drought-resistant specimens are used to enhance the soil structure and as pollinator plants: Pyracantha sp., Teucrium sp., Eremophila nivea (called curry plant for the peculiar aroma), Lavanda angustifolia, Elaeagnus sp. (Nitrogen fixing), Myrtus communis, Rosmarinus officinalis and Salvia ananas.
The most valuable element of the association’s income is the extra virgin olive oil, which is produced from olives harvested in an olive grove under their management, and then sold through various direct sales networks.
A few members work in private gardens to maintain the historic Nocciola di Polizzi hazelnut. In its active production years, this hazelnut crop used to cover much of the fields in Polizzi Generosa municipality (see image below). As a side note: the hazelnut cultivation itself is not economically sustainable and it has been abandoned.
TransPorto festival
During my stay, Porto di Terra hosted the fifth edition of the TransPorto festival. I helped out with the three days of activities designed for everyone, with the aim of knowledge exchange and intergenerational convivial moments space: concerts, workshops, wild camping, cooked food, access to several hike trails, and areas for free expression with music, poetry and juggling.
Mutual aid
Mutual aid (“mutuo aiuto”) is a common practice in Porto di Terra’s interconnected community. Briefly, it consists of people gathering in one property and helping with needed activities in a very relaxed and family atmosphere feeling.
Sara Cuscuna’, co-founder of Permacultura Sicilia network Tuttə giù per Terra, is one of the pioneers of the “mutuo aiuto” concept. She explained me that the idea of “you help me – we help you” started when she actively was involved in a collective food forest permaculture-based project (SAJA).
I took part in a “mutuo aiuto” with around 20 people in a friend’s property located in Cefalu’, 50 km north of Polizzi Generosa. Together we helped with the grape harvest and placement in a wooden structure for drying, renovation of the chicken coop, and an eco building roofing arrangement with bamboo cane.
Peer-Learning
Thanks to my host Carlotta Ebbreo, through Urgenci, I took part in the EU Food Security Hub’s European Exchange and Peer-Learning Workshop in Palermo. A perfect chance to meet some urban-based realities on the ground that are actively involved in social welfare/health and land care: Cooperativa Ciauli, Cuoche combattenti, Terra Franca and Moltivolti.
Conclusion
The organization just renewed for eight years the lease that allows Porto di Terra to access the land that is hosting it.
I had the opportunity to listen, exchange and debate different approaches and possible future scenarios for the organization, in terms of governance and activities for boosting intergenerational cooperation, with a special focus on child education and experience with an outdoor kindergarten.
Porto di Terra is a hub of creativity and sustainable living, and I feel confident to say that it is a model for rural repopulation. Their presence breathes life into Polizzi Generosa, inspiring hope and fostering knowledge exchange.
For example, I took part in a women’s circle. Quite frequently some of the women of the community around Porto di Terra meet up for a moment to connect with one another, share experiences, and support each other. The circle provides a safe and sacred space to share thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment or criticism.
I believe Porto di Terra represents an attempt to take revenge on the past, proposing a new, more complete and human approach to the way of being and doing in a rural area.
Personally, I have been very much enriched by the experience lived in Porto di Terra. The lifestyle, the rhythm and the energy that the people I meet within the Porto di Terra network have been the driving force to make the final decision in enrolling for my PhD study, about rural volunteering and social farming!
The Forum Synergies Scholarship Programme 2025 is now open for applications. The scholarship offers young people the opportunity to spend meaningful time in a place of their choice, gaining hands-on experience and learning from others who live and work in rural areas. Discover practical tools to bring your own projects to life, develop skills in constructive communication and advocacy, and get ready to take action! Find all the details and application forms here or reach out to Simone at info@forum-synergies.eu.
Porto di Terra was one of a host of inspiring initiatives that contributed to the book “Rural Europe Takes Action – No more business as usual”, a co-production by ARC2020 and Forum Synergies, which was published in June 2022. The book is available to download free here.
More
Mind The Gap! Sustainable Food Systems Need Intergenerational Cooperation
Letter From A Future Farmer | Rethinking The Farm From The Ground Up
Letter From The Farm | The More-Than-Human Magic of Transhumance
BTV’s Cost: A Farmer Caught Between the Virus and the System
Letter From The Farm | Cresting the Peaks of Constant Change
Feeding Ourselves 2023 – Building Bridges for Rural Resilience
Compassion for Future at Latvian Rural Communities Parliament
