“…but you want me to descend back

to the little, big world

where you have set your tent and mine,

you want me to stay in the village and to share life in community…

You make me taste the beauty of the heavens,

But you want me faithful to the earth…”

(from The Hem of the Mantle by C. M. Martini)

Maria Cannuli and her husband Serafino Bisazza

Territorial identity is of capital importance for Pantano Project. Territory is in fact a geological but also historical conformation; it is where a shared way of life takes place, creating collective customs. It therefore represents a collective heritage to be preserved, whose centrality must be implemented in order to restore a world, Pantano's, not to be considered as a residual area but as a system of social and cultural relations. This world needs attention and investments, but also a straightforward refusal of disillusion and conformity.

Pantano Project is antithetic to the rapidly expanding phenomenon of human deterritorialization and globalization, which lead to a rescission of the link between productive settlements and territory. What are the consequences? The most outstanding one is the loss of the fiduciary relationship between human beings: it is in fact on the territory that the customs and traditions that make a human relationship trustworthy are gathered. It must then be understood that a development model is positive not only for the efficiency of its results, but also for its embracing all the dimensions of man.

If the goal is to live a significant life in a society based on consumption like ours, Pantano has to be a mean of civilisation, evolving towards culturally richer forms, sharing and experimenting in everyday life harmony with nature and values such as solidarity, participation, ecosustainability, simplicity.

Pantano Project's challenge is the preservation of the existent, restoring together with the buildings the memories and the social value of its inheritance, as our territory directs us and in turn brings the signs of a man's belonging to a culture and a country.