Italy

Mobilities - Italy

The Second meeting for the project 'Living History' took place in the town of Alberobello located in southern Italy. Fatalamanga23  hosted  21 the participants from the associations involved in the project.

The main  theme  of the  meeting was the connection between the local history of Puglia  and the history of Europe. In order to illustrate the relationship between local and general european history we presented two important historical figures : Giangirolamo II Acquaviva y Aragona (Conversano, 1600 – Barcelona, 14 may  1665) and Gualtieri VI di Brienne (Lecce, 1302 – Poitiers, 19 september 1356),  more commonly known  as " Duke of Athen".

 Giangirolamo II founded the village of Alberobello and Gualtieri VI di Brienne is well remembered in the history of the city, Putignano:  after his death in 1359 during the famous battle of Poitiers,  the city was liberated from his illigitimate rule. Every year on 22 of june Putignano organizes the' San Giovanni Medieval Festival' to celebrate this liberation. https://portabarsento.wordpress.com/

On the first day of the meeting we organized a conference with the history professor Angelo Martellotta and the mayor  of Alberobello Michele Longo .

Professor Martellotta  explained  that Alberobello and the palace of the Count Giangirolamo II  were  a " place of hospitality' and refreshment thanks to their strategic location along the ancient roads connecting places of business and worship. It's astounding that this event brought six countries with different historical backgrounds together to discuss history and interact as they did in ancient times. .

On the second day, we went to the  the San Giovanni Medevil festival in  Putignano and contributed to the festivities. The delegation of Turkey and Poland wore traditional attire.

During the meeting we organized two workshops to demonstrate the local farming practices used in medevil times as well as now. On the 21st we went to the ancient Church of  Barsento, ( 300 a.c.)   Where the medicine man Paolo Vinella accompanied us on a fascinating journey through the ancient knowledge of wild plants and medicinal herbs, which are often forgotten as the roots of local culture. The second workshop took place on the 23rd. We visited the educational farm Perrini, in alberobello where we discovered how the typical alberobello trulli houses were built.

On the evening of the 23rd we concluded the meeting with a performance by the celtic harp player Patrizia Locaputo: " Tree of Stories".