"Life quality and environmental sustainability in south italy" in Ecopia 1st international symposium

Prevention and active aging, as well as innovation in services for vulnerable individuals, represent crucial challenges given also the population aging process. The environment, both in the physical and relational sense, has a strong impact on the level of personal and collective well-being and therefore does not play a role of neutral space, a background to interpersonal behaviour. Providing healthy environments for people well-being corresponds to World Health Organization (WHO) strategic priority “Ensure healthy lives and well-being for all at all ages”, creating resilient communities and supportive environments for health. Social Agriculture, a multifunctional agriculture model regulated in Italy by the Law n. 141/2015, is part of a welfare model in which environmental protection, enhancement, as well as people well-being and social integration, can find their maximum expression. It is an innovative approach that integrates various functions and benefits within the agricultural context, going beyond simple food production, emphasizing the importance of sustainable practices that contribute to the local and environmental development of rural communities, providing also social services. For older people, the experience in Social Farms is an opportunity for aggregation and improvement of life quality and psychophysical well-being, according to the WHO's definition of active aging as a “process of optimizing health opportunities, participation and safety to improve people's quality of life".