What is that big circle in the South of Italy?

In Puglia, southern Italy, you can spot a circle about 4 km in diameter from the sky. Why did aliens make this?
Or if it wasn’t the aliens (which I really doubt), what on earth is this circle for?

In 2024, I went "woofing" in Puglia. Woofing basically means "helping a farmer out for part of the day in exchange for food and a place to sleep". The rest of the day, you’re free to explore the region and chill. My woofing was on Viola's land. Viola is a city girl who decided to return to the lands of her childhood to help keep the Salento region "alive".

Salento — the heel of Italy’s “boot” — is a region with a Mediterranean climate: very hot and dry during summer. The local economy depends on olive cultivation, mainly for olive oil production. Unfortunately, since 2013, a bacteria (Xylella) has been infecting all the olive trees, drying them out, and … killing them. So far, there’s no cure… If the olive trees die off, the region could turn into a desert in just a few decades.

To avoid that, some people have started planting trees to replace the dying olives and hopefully prevent desertification. Viola is one of them. Five years ago, she made the decision to “build” a forest, made up of many varieties (to increase resilience) of local trees. She doesn’t get any revenue from it (apart from a few fruits she might sell at the market), she’s purely doing it to “save her region.” Viola is one of those people who make you see the world… differently. And that’s refreshing.

But why am I telling you all this? What does it have to do with the circle?

Well, because Viola’s forest is… inside the circle! And she’s not alone in there — there are dozens of other farms and “mini-forests” growing as well.

But wait — what is this circle??

It turns out, this circle is the “Nardò Technical Center,” a massive ring (+ a wedge-shaped section) dedicated to real-world testing of… sports cars. It was built by Fiat in 1975, then bought by Porsche in 2012, and now available to car manufacturers from all over the globe. There, they test supercars, high-performance SUVs, and some innovative new electric models. All of this protected by walls, cameras and barbed wires. Like a military area. Quite far from farms and forests, right?

Right there, on those 15 square kilometers, two worlds collide — two almost caricatured visions of the future, two opposing models of society. I find it fascinating.

You want something crazier? The part of the circle close to the sea (you can check on the picture) inside the private area of the Nardò Technical Center may contain a primary forest (never exploited by humans, sheltering huge and precious biodiversity). Right now, associations are fighting to protect this forest.

It feels like something straight out of “Avatar”!

I find this story fascinating, and I am waiting for the Netflix adaptation.

End bonus: to really amplify the “we are in a movie” vibe, there’s a tower placed inside the private area of the center, pointed towards the inside of the circle, which looked just like the watchman in “Kirikou.”