Ulía

Abstract

Ulía is the word for olive in the Salento area of Italy. Ulía is also the word meaning’ I’d like to/ love to’, in the local dialect. The linguistic assonances are only one of the many dimensions that link olive trees and humanity, past and future, nature and desire. Recently, Salento’s hundreds-years-old olive trees have been attacked by a disease called Xylella Fastidiosa. In this paper, I analyze the presence and role of both Pagan and non-Pagan ‘neo-animist’ political discourses oriented toward the cure, preservation, tutelage and guardianship of Salento’s olive trees under threat of felling and eradication.