Settlement models and soil economy in post-rural culture - The dispersed settlement model first became popular from the 1970s onwards, including in mountainous and high hilly areas of Italy, above all to the detriment of agroecosystems. Hitched to the structure of landed property, planning schemes imposed this trend in communities, triggering off serious consumption of a non renewable source-soil. In the ‘initial development’ areas, in which the old settlement matrix still held sway, post-rural culture would in reality have accepted the option of greater aggregation of residential modules, albeit in a perspective of detached housing units. This article discusses several settlement scenarios in a rural area, beginning from the real-life model of adhesion to planning instruments currently in force and exploring a series of alternatives on the basis of their landscape, output and soil economy qualities.