The Acait of Tricase (LE, Apulia, Italy): an agricultural cooperative for tobacco production. Surveys and conservation status

The tobacco industry in Puglia has been for about a century the main economic resource for the farmers and the dealers. The first processing with Levantine tobacco began in Terra d'Otranto (the current provinces of Lecce, Brindisi and Taranto) between the late XIX and early XX centuries and were linked to the Agricultural Consortium of the Capo di Leuca territory (from 1938 Acait - Società Cooperativa Agricola Industriale del Capo di Leuca). Acait was the first cooperative agricultural consortium of the Terra d'Otranto born in Tricase (Lecce, Italy) in December 1902. In 2003 the municipality of Tricase acquired the historic factory, considered a "monument" of the industrial heritage of southern Italy, as a peculiar economic, social and human testimony of the territory. In 2018, the southern part of building was affected by a collapse. Given the high value of this industrial heritage artifact, a restoration project of the entire building was promoted. The paper illustrates some results of an ongoing study that combines data from historical-archival research with an architectural survey campaign and diagnostic analyses on the state of conservation.