Premise Since July 27, 2017, the Social Cooperative Qualcosa di Diverso has been managing 50 hectares of agricultural land confiscated from the mafia. The project of managing abandoned lands and structures has given life to XFARM Agricoltura Prossima: a property confiscated from the mafia, previously a symbol of illegality (money laundering) and environmental unsustainability (intensive monocultures, massive use of synthetic fertilizers), now aims to become a 'manifesto' agricultural enterprise from a social, ecological, cultural, and productive standpoint. It strives to generate well-being for the community, education on social justice, employment, and ecosystem improvement.

The Project

XFarm Land Art is the first Rural Art Park on land confiscated from the mafia in Puglia, created by actively involving young citizens under 18 as co-authors of collective site-specific works of Rural Art – Land Art. The objective is to open the spaces of XFarm – the confiscated property – to the community and create an artistic pathway as an attraction for citizens and visitors, promoting the economy of beauty and social justice.

By deepening and studying the morphology of the territory, the agro-environmental conditions, the history of the confiscated property, memory and commitment, and the alternatives of the civil economy to the mafia economy, the project aims to activate a collective reflection on the cultural and symbolic dimension of confiscated assets as common goods. This, in turn, strengthens the feelings of reappropriation and belonging among the younger generations and the local community towards real estate taken from the criminal economy and long abandoned.

Having completed the first phase of creating the Park in 2023, we are now organizing art, painting, music, and theater events, as well as eco-education lessons for adults and children in collaboration with various schools, institutions, and organizations from the territory and the Province of Brindisi.