Recovery and Reuse of Rural buildings: the Spread Out Building case

The slow but continuous flight from the countryside leads to the abandonment and consequent deterioration of rural constructions. Therefore the problem of their recovery, also for diversified uses, arises. The reuse problem becomes more heightened in case of small-sized constructions; hence special forms of recovery need to be identified to enable their reuse focused on functional integration. This paper tackles the problem by illustrating a study case concerning the Gargano, a National Park and tourist area, featuring a high number of spread out houses. We propose aggregating the single building units to form a spread out accommodation facility distributed over various constructions. To create the above mentioned spread out hotel, an integrated recovery is proposed that contemplates, in addition to the restoration of the buildings, also the redevelopment of the farmland and vegetation surrounding the complex, thus offering the opportunity to recover wide rural spaces together with their buildings and territorial contexts.