The title of this photograph is linked to a small rural house located along state road SS96, running solitary in the direction of Irsina, in the province of Matera.
Agrarian Reform and the Humanized Landscape
In the post-WWII era, the agrarian reform law (Stralcio Law of 1950) led to a radical redistribution of large estate lands to farmworker families. To encourage work in the fields, thousands of these small farmhouse dwellings were built, regularly distributed across the vast Lucanian agricultural lands with the same geometric care as a farmer sowing seeds across the earth.
It was a season of great hope and economic revival for Basilicata: many families abandoned the overcrowded districts of the Sassi di Matera or historic town centers to move to the countryside. It was a simple life, marked by the harsh rhythms of soil and harvest, yet full of dignity and family happiness.
The Interrupted Dream of Emigration
In this house, surrounded by the silence of the Lucanian hills, a child was born to a young married couple. His was a free and carefree childhood, spent running across meadows, playing among livestock, and stopping to contemplate the golden sunset that painted the wheat fields. Indelible childhood memories, destined to remain carved in memory.
However, that rural dream was soon cut short by the tragic passing of his father and the subsequent, painful decision of the family to emigrate to Germany to work in factories, leaving behind the house and the land.
These are the words gathered on site, spoken by that migrant worker who, after nearly 17 years of absence, returned in silence to visit the now abandoned walls of his birthplace:
“...I remember, I remember well when I lived here.
Around us was only the infinite blue of the sky and the intense green of the wheat swaying in the wind.
Every single thing had a different flavor. Living was different.
I distinctly remember the day we packed our belongings, locked that door, and decided to leave without looking back.”
This photograph is part of the visual archive of Un giro in Basilicata, aimed at collecting stories and traces left by human presence before they are erased by abandonment.
Roberto Lacava