Italy

The Living Lab

As reported in the ISTAT Agricultural Census 2020 in Italy only 31.5% of farm managers are women, with diversification and multi-functionality as specific features of many women-managed farms. According to the Unioncamere Observatory for Women’s Entrepreneurship, women’s start-up businesses in agriculture made up 0.9% of the total in 2022.

Women’s visible presence in agriculture is increasing, though very slowly, and female participation in rural activities varies considerably across the Italian regions. In the Puglia region, 31% of the total agricultural enterprises are led by women (Aforisma-CIA 2021), with the region being in 2nd place at the national level.

The CAP Strategic Plan for Italy for 2023-2027 envisages several measures to support young farmers and women: payment for adopting and maintaining organic production practices, animal welfare and non-agricultural productive investments in rural areas often specify young farmers and women as beneficiaries in some areas of Italy.

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Meet our women innovators

Miriam Del Re

Chicken farmer

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Miriam Del Re
Chicken farmer

Miriam is 26 years old. She has a degree in economics and commerce from the University of Bari, but while preparing her last exams at university, she realised she did not want to find a job related to her study area. Therefore, she devoted herself full-time to looking after animals, a passion she had had since childhood, thanks to her aunt’s veterinary practice. In 2021, she decided to use the disused land of her partner’s farm and dedicate it to raising laying hens. In the future, she would like to open an educational farm. Initially the business started with 50 hens and currently there are 250 free-range hens on her land.

Annalisa Pellegrini

Lavander farmer

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Annalisa Pellegrini
Lavander farmer

 Annalisa is 46 years old. She graduated from art school, specialising in woodworking. For many years she worked in the entertainment and theatre sector as a lights and set designer. She travelled around Italy and abroad for work and then moved to Sicily to focus on marble working. Back in her homeland, she attended courses on medicinal plants and after self-taught study, still in progress, in 2020 she decided to recover an unused family plot and cultivate it with lavender, paying attention to environmental sustainability and circular economy.

Letizia Cuonzo

Olive producer

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Letizia Cuonzo
Olive producer

Letizia is 43 years old. She graduated in Modern Literature, specialising in history and art. In 2010 she became the owner of the farm previously run by her father, using the public regional funding – PSR Puglia – for young people starting an agricultural business, including organic production. In the same year, a continuous line system was introduced in the mill and in 2017 a protoreactor system was installed (replacing the crushers). During the harvesting and processing season, the farm welcomes schoolchildren and tourists to inform them about production practices and offer basic information for tasting extra virgin olive oil.

Rosangela Belifemmine

Cultural diseminator

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Rosangela Maria Belifemmine
Cultural diseminator

Rosangela is 59 years old. She has a diploma as an accountant. She has always been passionate about reading and started her first working experience in the 1990s in the publishing house ‘La Meridiana’, in Molfetta (Bari). In 1994, she took over a historic bookstore in Ruvo di Puglia with a colleague, introducing fair-trade products into the business. Over the years she has tried to rekindle her passion for reading in the territory and for this reason she developed the ‘Confabulare’ project, holding its first edition in 1999. In 2012, thanks to consolidated relations with various actors in the area, the project evolved and became an annual event, extending its boundaries to a national level.

Francesca Sardano

Social cooperativist

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Francesca Sardano
Social cooperativist

Francesca is 52 years old. She dropped out of school until, after getting married and having children, she decided to attend night school to become a social services technician. In 2010, she started working at the “Oasi2” community as a social worker. In 2023, the community opened a transformation laboratory: its aim is to give residents the opportunity to participate in all stages of the supply chain, from production to processing and sale. She believes that working with the land can teach people handling frustration and conflicts, by sharing a sense of satisfaction.

Liliana Tangorra

Lecturer

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Liliana Tangorra
Lecturer

Liliana is a 38 year-old PhD in Comparative Art History, Civilisations and Cultures of Mediterranean Countries and lecturer in Contemporary Art History at the University of Bari. Since 2022, she has been vice-president of the “Ulixes” Social Cooperative in Bitonto after taking part in the regional competition called ‘Piccoli sussidi’. By doing so, she founded the ‘Argo Puglia’ cooperative. Through Ulixes s.c.s. she is involved in educational design, publishing and tourism. She is the winner of the ‘Dimensione donna 2013’ award. Working at Ulixes is an opportunity to give back to the community her skills and to share her fears and concerns with colleagues.

Marilena Ciocia

Social cooperative member

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Marilena Ciocia
Social cooperative member

Marilena is a 51 year-old social worker with an accounting diploma. Her career in social work followed the birth of her daughter Claudia in ’92, who is disabled. From that moment on, she became an active citizen, verifying the weakness of the law with regard to its practical application. She participates as a volunteer consultant within several municipalities and has become president of the joint advisory committee of the ASL Bari (Local Health Authority). She is currently a member of the ‘Inachis Association’, which deals with environmental protection focusing on accessibility for the frail. From 2017 to 2022, she founded the Cooperative ‘l’Amaranto Onlus’ that deals with job placement for vulnerable people.

Catia Scarimbolo

Trainer and producer in theatre and dance

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Catia Scarimbolo
Trainer and producer in theatre and dance

Catia is 53 years old. She has a degree in Literature at the University of Bari. Since 1996 she has worked as a researcher and trainer in the performing arts in schools at different levels and institutions that deal with the prevention of juvenile delinquency. Since 2016 she is a certified expert in movement-based artistic education, coordinating the training activities of the “La Luna nel Letto” Theatre Company, founded in 2000, and of the Municipal Theatre of Ruvo di Puglia, of which she has been the organisational director since 2008.
Among the founders of the Bio-Distretto delle Lame, she considers the theatre a place of research for new connections between the environment and the culture of the community with an attentive eye to the new generations.