The Botrugno Case: How We Turned Piazza San Pietro Into an Open-Air Museum

Botrugno: An Empty Square and a Question

Botrugno is a town of 1,600 residents in lower Salento. In 2023, the historic center was visibly run-down. Grey walls, an absence of young people, silent squares.

APS OnStage had been founded two years earlier with a simple goal: to use art as a tool for social cohesion. But we had no experience. We didn't know whether a mural would make any difference.

Our hypothesis was simple: if we turn Piazza San Pietro into an open-air gallery, young people will have a reason to stay. Or to come back.

It was a hypothesis, not a certainty. But it was worth testing.

May 2023: The First Mural

We reached out to Marco De Luca, a writer from Rome with experience in urban regeneration. We wanted a mural that wasn't abstract decoration: it had to tell a story about Botrugno.

We organized a community workshop three weeks before the painting began. We invited residents, shopkeepers, teachers, young people. We sat in the square and asked: what is the story of Botrugno that we want to tell visitors?

The answers were:
- Agricultural tradition (the area is rich in historic masserie, fortified farmhouses)
- Popular spirituality (the town has a beautiful baroque church)
- The bond with the land and with memory

Marco proposed a mural twelve meters by eight: a woman emerging from the earth, holding a sprout. It was contemporary, but anchored to the specificity of the place.

When the mural was completed (three days of work), the perception of Piazza San Pietro changed immediately. It wasn't magic. But it was visible: the square was no longer anonymous.

> "When I saw the finished mural, I cried. Not for the painting itself. But because I realized my town was still alive." — resident, age 67

2024-2025: Scaling the Model

After the first mural, we realized we had to systematize the process.

We created a two-year roadmap: 10 murals distributed across strategic points of Piazza San Pietro and the surrounding streets, each one telling a different aspect of the local story.

Every mural followed the same process:
1. Community workshop to define the theme
2. Selection of the artist through an open call
3. Sharing the sketch with the community
4. Execution, with video documentation
5. An "unveiling event" presenting the finished work

The murals produced were:
1. "Radici" ("Roots", May 2023) — the woman and the sprout
2. "Memoria" ("Memory", September 2023) — the face of a Salento grandmother, in hyper-realistic technique
3. "Futuro" ("Future", February 2024) — young figures "building" the square
4. "Tradizione" ("Tradition", May 2024) — the pizzica dance, stylized in abstract form
5. "Incontro" ("Encounter", November 2024) — two figures touching, a metaphor for community
6. "Libertà" ("Freedom", March 2025) — a flying figure, referencing art-history classics
7. "Diversità" ("Diversity", May 2025) — faces of different ages, backgrounds, genders
8. "Speranza" ("Hope", September 2025) — a landscape emerging from darkness

Not all the murals were equally successful aesthetically. Some were stronger than others. But the strategy of narrative accumulation worked: the square wasn't a mere sequence of paintings, it was a visual conversation with the community's themes.

The Impact We Hadn't Foreseen

Economic:
- In 2022, Botrugno received around 200 visitors a month (from neighboring towns, passing through)
- In 2025, we receive around 650 visitors a month, with peaks of 1,200 in the summer months
- Revenue for bars and restaurants rose by 240%
- 11 new businesses opened (a guest house, a local craft shop, an engraving workshop)

Demographic:
- In 2023, 2 young people had chosen to move to Botrugno for reasons unrelated to family
- In 2025, that number rose to 18 (mostly in the creative sector or cultural tourism)
- 35 long-time residents who had moved away expressed interest in returning

Social:
- The square went back to being a space for socializing. Not just for the elderly, but for young people and families too
- A school started bringing children to the square for outdoor art-history lessons
- Two spontaneous murals appeared (unauthorized, but retroactively authorized by the town council), made by local young people

Cultural:
- OnStage became known nationally
- We hosted the RestArt festival, which in 2025 drew 2,800 visitors over three days
- OnStage's blog and social media reached 85,000 followers

How We Handled the Difficult Parts

Light Gentrification

The first risk we faced was rising prices. In 2023-2024, some property owners started raising rents, sensing the new interest in the square.

We responded with:
1. Transparent dialogue with property owners: we explained that runaway gentrification would ruin the neighborhood's authenticity
2. Creation of price-controlled spaces: we negotiated with two property owners to hand over spaces for art workshops at reduced rent
3. Support for young local entrepreneurs: we facilitated microloans for those wanting to start a business in the center

It wasn't a complete solution. But it slowed the process down.

Organizational Fatigue

In 2024 we risked burnout. OnStage is a volunteer-run association: organizing murals, festivals, communications, and administration is exhausting.

The solution was partial professionalization: we hired two coordinators with public funding, obtained through regional grants. Not high salaries, but enough to do the work with less stress.

Lesson: you can't sustain an urban regeneration project on volunteers alone. You have to invest in organizational structure.

Tourist Pressure

In 2025, some residents started complaining about "excessive tourism." The square, once a quiet space, had become crowded on weekends.

We responded not by trying to discourage tourists, but by creating "quiet hours" in the square (two hours in the morning, reserved for residents). We also organize cultural events that bring together both residents and visitors, turning tourist pressure into an occasion for mixed socializing.

The Metrics That Really Matter

In our project, traffic and visitor numbers are secondary to this question: does my town have a future?

Here's how we answer it:

| Metric | Meaning | 2023 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Young people born/staying | Demographic vitality | 8 | 23 |
| New entrepreneurs | Wealth generation | 0 | 8 |
| Active schools | Confidence in the future | 1 | 1 (but with 20% more enrollments) |
| National media mentions | External narrative | 1 | 23 |
| Workshop participation rate | Community engagement | 18% | 64% |

Urban regeneration isn't measured only in tourists and selfies. It's measured in trust within the community.

The Next Phase: Toward a Cultural Ecosystem

In 2026, we're planning the second phase of regeneration:
- Creating a permanent artist residency (artists in residence 4 months a year)
- Renovating a disused public space into a creative hub (a visual arts workshop, a music rehearsal room, co-working space)
- Direct involvement of schools: a street art curriculum as part of arts education

We don't want Botrugno to become an "art Disneyland." We want it to become a real laboratory, where the local community is the protagonist, not the extras.

The Universal Lesson

Botrugno is a small case study. We have no ambitions of grandeur. But the lesson is universal: you don't need a huge budget or a big name to regenerate an urban space.

You need:
1. A clear vision (what do we want our town to represent?)
2. Authentic community involvement (not superficial consultation)
3. Artistic quality (no kitsch, no copy-paste images)
4. Economic sustainability (how do we keep the project going over the years?)
5. Impact measurement (how do we know it's working?)

Botrugno shows that these five elements, combined, produce real regeneration.

If your town has an empty square and a community that suspects it has no future, this case study is for you. It isn't magic. It's systematic, documented, replicable work.