From common land to farmhouses: agricultural penal colonies and the project of modern rurality in Sardinia, Italy

Sardinia's agricultural penal colonies, established between the 1860s and 1960s, served as 'institutions of dispossession' that accelerated the ideological shift away from feudalism, commonality, and pastoralism. These colonies, part of a broader European trend, were designed to reshape rural landscapes through large-scale spatial planning, intersecting with internal colonization and settler colonialism. The study analyzes their role in Italy's political transitions, comparing them to similar projects like the Dutch 'Colonies of Benevolence' and France's Mettray penal colony. It highlights their impact on Sardinia's rural domain, linking them to later civilian agrarian plans such as Fascist reclamation efforts and post-war reforms.

Puddu, S. (2023). From common land to farmhouses: agricultural penal colonies and the project of modern rurality in Sardinia, Italy. The Journal of Architecture, 28(7), 1184–1213. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2023.2297477