Villaggi rurali e montani in Calabria tra fascismo e dopoguerra (anni ‘20- anni ‘60 del XX secolo)

Abstract: Historiography has given little space to housing and settlements created by State interventions – such as the Bonifica integrale and the Riforma agraria – which also in Calabria have given rise to colonization projects in rural areas removed from isolation or malaria. The contribution takes into consideration the planning history of rural and mountain villages, the models and logic that guided them and their medium-long term impact on local settlement systems in some intervention areas of the Opera Valorizzazione Sila, the body entrusted with the implementation of the agrarian reform in postwar Italy (Law n. 230 of 1950). Particular emphasis was given to the relationship between the forms of intervention launched after WWII and those promoted with somewhat similar intentions during Fascism with the Bonifica integrale (Law n. 235 of 1933). The areas involved in this colonization were the Sila plateau, hilly areas and contiguous plains, such as the Marchesato and the Neto valley in the Crotone area and the Piana di Sibari, in the upper Ionian coast of Cosenza.

Keywords: Calabria; Rural Settlements; Integral Reclamation; Agrarian Reform; Private Landownership.