Socio-ecological infrastructures: rural communities and habitability in Southern Puglia

This article examines traditional living places and socioecological reproduction as infrastructure among farmers practicing natural and regenerative agriculture in Southern Puglia. Exploring intergenerational knowledge, it shows how farmers enhance socio ecological systems through cooperation with natural laws and refusal of extractivism. Case studies include "Torre dei Mastro" (Castellana Grotte), "Amadeco" (Salento), and neo-farmers in and around the Itria Valley. Findings show how neoliberal threats affect farmers' capacity to sustain their systems, while double movement, self-governance and selfsustainability emerge, rooted in place-consciousness and autopoiesi. These practices embody restanza, stressing the potential of traditional farming for socio-ecological reproduction and their medium-long term potential socio-territorial change.