Stephanie Moreland
Professional Writer & Photographer

We had our introduction to the program outside on the patio of Cappucini in the late afternoon. It was cooler and breezy enough not to break a sweat, so it really helped cheer me up. From this day forward, the weather for most of my time in Altamura was pleasant and breezy—much to my delight it was an almost two-week respite from the heat that I had endured at the beginning of the journey. 

Tonio and Teresanna gave us a brief history of their organization and the scope of work that we would be participating in for the next two weeks. We would have two full free days, two full work days (both on Sundays) and then spend the rest of the time working by alternating morning and afternoon shifts. We were asked to sign up for “kitchen duty” days. Each participant would spend two days of their choice cooking in the kitchen instead of going to the work site with the rest of the team. On those days, participants would be responsible for preparing lunch and dinner (usually doing things like peeling carrots or chopping tomatoes), doing the dishes after each meal, and cleaning the upstairs bathrooms.

On the days that we were at the actual work site, we would be doing things like mixing mortar, re-building stone walls, re-storing old sky-lights, and general maintenance of the terrain at the farmhouse (known as the Jesce). The farmhouse is one of the many fortified structures that dot the landscape around cities like Altamura in the Puglia region of Italy. Puglia is not a tourist-heavy area, so there are many structures and archeological “gold mines” like this one that stand virtually untouched in this part of Italy. In my opinion, this makes the Jesce we would be working to restore as well as this area of Italy more intriguing to me.

The Jesce is located only 13 km away from the city of Altamura, on the old Appian Way. The farmhouse itself is located in the center of an archaeological site with evidence of urban development that dates back to 2^nd and 3^rd centuries BC and even a stratification that dates back to the Neolithic period.  Essentially, this structure has evolved over time through the fall of the Roman Empire, during the domination of the Byzantines, the Longobards, Normans, up to sometime in the 1600s-which is the version that visitors will see today if they visit the Jesce. In addition to the richness of the archaeological site and the farmhouse itself, the caves below the building house an ancient crypt that is believed to have been the center of religious worship for the local peasants sometime in the 1300s. The Byzantine frescoes (from around 1350) can still be seen on the walls of the crypt as well as a statue of Saint Frances da Paola and an altar from the 1500s.  Another fresco, by Didacus De Simone in 1664, is located at the entrance of the crypt.

After the period of the 1600s, various private families from Altamura obtained ownership of it until 1987 when it became a public historical property and was taken over by the municipality of Altamura. The important thing to understand here is that just because the property was owned by the municipality doesn’t mean that anything was to be done about the structure or the area itself. It wasn’t until 1989, when the Sinergie Cooperative was created and they developed concrete plans for the recovery and restoration of this rich piece of heritage.

The people at Sinergie came up with the Eutropia project and proposed it to the municipality of Altamura in 1993. The original idea of the project was to evaluate the surrounding habitats, archaeological remains, the architecture, and the landscape and then create an intercultural center that would help represent the heritage of this area. The thought was that they would eventually use the space for housing seminars, festivals, and exhibitions in addition to the fact that the features of the Jesce themselves offer reason enough for tourists and even people from Altamura to come out and see this important piece of history.

In 1995, the work camp itself was born, when the people of Singergie decided that a cultural exchange, and the chance to learn about archaeology and restoration, would be an innovative way to help develop this historic piece of property. So, dozens of volunteers from all over the world as well as some local volunteers were brought in to help with the first work camp. So now here I sit years later, with 17 Dutch students, one American couple, a woman from China, a father-daughter pair from the U.S, and four or five Italians who care very much about the success of this program. We are all there for the same reasons- to lend a hand, to learn about each other, to learn about Italy, and most importantly, to learn something about ourselves.