Adaptive reuse for social agriculture: a sustainable approach for the recovery of abandoned villages in Sicily

This paper focuses on the case study of Borgo Lupo village, a suburb of Mineo (Catania) built in the early 1940s in the framework of the agrarian reform in Sicily and abandoned in the 70s. It intends to outline the criteria and operational procedures for the adaptive reuse of such a built reality, as part of a global a landscape strategy to enhance resilience, sustainability and local community development. This purpose finds in the social farming an effective concept that leads on one hand to the recovery of unused buildings with great symbolic significance, retaining their integrity while providing modern needs and, above all, new chances for their residents. On the other hand, it offers an exemplary opportunity for the invigoration of a territory, today characterised by a barely populated landscape, but at a very high agricultural vocation, by promoting environmental and social justice, well-being and solidarity.