A proposito della riforma fondiaria. Per una storia sociale del Metapontino (1950-59)

The article proposes a review on the role played by the land reform in altering the territory and the social fabric of a marginal area of the continental Mezzogiorno, the Metapontine area (the Ionian coast of Basilicata), thanks to the adoption of an innovative and fairly appealing type of sources. The sources are the applications for the granting of agricultural land submitted by agricultural workers of the Matera province as of 1951, stored in the archive of the Lucanian Agency for Agricultural development and Innovation of Matera. The dates allow to enter into the daily life of individual applicants and of their families, investigating into the social and economic dimension of a reality that will be radically changed by the massive state intervention, and reflecting upon a community context based on slow but progressive inclusion and integration. The research leads to an extraordinary social, economic and existential mapping that allows to understand and highlight the effects, dynamics and trends in the relocation of an unprecedented territorial order. At the same time, the study enables to rethink and discuss again views and opinions raised and reiterated more than once within the historiography debate on the land reform, especially with regards to certain aspects defined as “disastrous” that do not find proofs and validations in the Metapontine area.