Three Lucanian towns tied by water: research on historic mills becomes

Three Lucanian towns tied by water: research on historic mills becomes a short film

Research carried out by CNR-ISPC in Tito Scalo has produced the short film Le comunità dell’acqua, portraying memory, identity and local culture in Picerno, Tito and San Martino d’Agri, with material also from Terranova di Pollino. Based on more than four hundred filmed recordings, the project documents the role of water in rural life and local economies.

On the program Caleidoscopio, researcher Maurizio Lazzari and set designer Gerardo Viggiano explained the narrative and reconstruction choices behind the documentary, which is among the four finalists at the Faro Film Festival in Venice.

The short film weaves voices and testimonies to reconstruct practices, knowledge and landscapes linked to water:

• the mill and the fulling mill as engines of traditional economies;
• gardens and irrigation channels preserving historic agricultural practices;
• a collective narration that dialogues between past and present.

The initiative shows how academic research and artistic practice can collaborate to preserve and promote the intangible heritage of Lucanian communities.