Rural itineraries in the middle adriatic region landscape. Architecture of farmhouses and traces of "Mezzadria" (sharecropping)

The hilly and agricultural areas of Central Italy represent an important case study in which it is possible to read the deep bond between built artifacts and the environment which surrounds them. For this reason, the contribution examines the architectural characteristics of the farmhouses of Central Italy by analyzing the environmental context; both the objective and original components of the site and the social and economic needs due to the presence of man are interpreted as a set of aspects which influenced the completely spontaneous design choices. The hills and the ridges, the road network connecting the historical centers and farms, the architectures constitute a unique system, testimony of Mezzadria (the Sharecropping), a particular form of land management, where the farmhouse is a founding element of the humanized landscape, symbol of a garrison and solution to keep man on the earth by working it. Positioning of the buildings related to the topography, the orientation and exposure based on climatic issues, the multifunctionality that combines agricultural work practices with family life and ways of living are explored. In understanding vernacular architecture, the content that the word environment admits inevitably opens up to the landscape that can be experienced in a particular context. Further explorations on farmhouses are conducted considering perceptive and relational aspects. The gaze and the mobility tracks are the devices used to build relationships between the farmhouse and the open space of the farm, between architectures and whole hills. In a very precise field of investigation, along a rural district in the middle Adriatic, the research builds an itinerary of discovery and narration of the sharecropping heritage, the ultimate goal is to demonstrate the anthropic value of the vernacular architectures of the rural landscape of Central Italy both scale of the building, than to the extended one of the landscape.