La casa dell'ecoturista

Among the trees of the Park's public olive grove, the ecotourist's house was born from the recovery of an old agricultural shelter, which in the local dialect is called "caseddha". Today it is a small ecological and self-sufficient home, which respects nature and uses alternative energies. It is powered by a micro-wind generator and thermal and photovoltaic "hybrid" modules and combines services and comfort, in a tourist experience that respects the resources that the Earth grants. The price includes the rental of two bicycles.

The Public Olive Grove (Le Rene district) is a small olive grove in the municipality of San Cassiano. In this place the agricultural "multi-functionality" of the Abitare i Paduli project is experimented. Thirty trees converted to sustainable agriculture are framed by the house of the "ecotourist" recovered with the principles of bio-building and the "artist's nests", examples of Land Art made with agricultural waste material.

The eco-tourist house is part of the widespread hospitality network with which the Urban Laboratory Abitare i Paduli experiments with responsible and sustainable tourism practices in the process of building from below the Paduli Multifunctional Agricultural Park. The visitor, associating, lives the association's activities in person, in an experience that takes him to the center of the life of the places, with respect for the host community and the resources of the territory. Before proceeding to the booking and payment of the contribution, it is advisable to contact Abitare i Paduli aps to verify your status as a member.

In the easternmost corner of Italy, in the heart of Salento in the province of Lecce, the Paduli Agricultural Park extends into what are called Terre di Mezzo, from the "hill" of Giuggianello, where the outcropping rocks constitute the harsh morphology of the "Landscape of the stones" up to the greenhouse of Supersano to the west, which frames the wide Paduli plain with its extensive olive groves, surrounded by numerous urban centers.

The area was historically occupied by the ancient Bosco di Belvedere, a dense forest mainly made up of oaks, whose existence today is witnessed by the few specimens that escaped destruction. For this reason, we sometimes find episodic groves with arboreal vegetation (eg the holm oak) and shrubby vegetation (such as the lentisk) of the Mediterranean scrub, where they find shelter raptors (buzzard) and other birds (hoopoe), mammals (fox) and micro mammals (hedgehog), reptiles (white snake) and amphibians (tree frog).

Today the Paduli Park is a large forest of olive trees, consisting of small plots divided by dry-stone walls, among numerous artificial canals that cross the wetlands and flow into vore and dolines. In the landscape one encounters dolmens and menhirs, farms, hunting lodges, small and numerous shelters (pajari), as well as finds of prehistoric or Byzantine and medieval sites.

The Paduli Agricultural Park is not an "established park" but an idea born from below that has led to a long process of participation between the municipalities that surround it: San Cassiano, Botrugno, Nociglia, Surano, Sanarica, Supersano, Giuggianello, Scorrano, Maglie, and Muro Leccese. Cross sustainable agriculture with responsible tourism, creativity and social innovation. Here, multi-functionality in agriculture becomes the tool that increases awareness of landscape value in the communities.