Messors
Since its founding in 1989 under the tutelage of director Tonio Creanza, Messors has worked on a host of
preservation projects in the Puglia region in Italy covering archeological research, restoration projects on
frescoes, wood and stone statues, decorative painting, guided tours, educational field school projects and
study abroad university programs.
Puglia, which is situated in the heel of Italy right along the Adriatic coast, is a scenic, rather idyllic pocket of
land rife with history and nature. Reportedly home to 50 million olive trees, it is also lined with pomegrante
and plum trees, sunflowers, oaks and many underground caves and catacombs filled with Roman and
Byzantine heirlooms and frescoes. Singerie, an off-shoot of Messors, is a non-profit volunteer group that
was created in 1993 to work specifically on the revitalization of historic sites through the assistance of
governmental and museum backing. In the same year Sinergie proposed to the municipality of Altamura, a
project titled “Eutropia” to restore and promote an important historical-archeological site, Masseria Jesce,
once an ancient agricultural center and Roman filling station. The educational volunteer project ran from
1995 to 2009 and hosted over 700 volunteers coming from abroad to help and learn traditional stone wall
techniques of restoration. By 2009 70% of the site was restored and is now used by the community for arts
and culture events. The group also organizes excursions to the neighboring provinces of Matera, Gravina,
Pompei and many others in addition to an English summer school for children in La Selva.
Specific workshops such as art restoration, arts sojourn and culinary arts & shepherding are proferred under
the leadership of Messors. For a taste of true Mediterranean cuisine and the Slow Food Movement way of
life, the culinary workshop sheds light on cheese-making (mozarella, bocconcini, treccia, burrata, scamorza,
provolone, canestrato), charcuterie production, foraging wild, edible plants and herbs, olive oil extraction,
milking sheep and preparing homemade pasta – always finished off with an epic fish feast by the sea and a
two-hour siesta. The shepherding program involves waking before sunrise and following the shepherd’s
pastoral activities from dawn to dusk, a discipline which involves close contact to nature and long stretches
of solitude. All is held at the Masseria La Selva dairies, farms, restaurants, bakeries and wineries, all vital
culinary facilities maintaining regional culinary traditions.
Read on below for our interview with founder Tonio Creanza.
www.messors.com
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