The baldios are an ancient Portuguese tradition, which dates back to the Middle Ages, as a privilege conferred on the inhabitants of each village, recognized in the royal registers. In a feudal economy, commons were a necessary resource for farmers to obtain firewood and pasture, ensuring their subsistence. Until the end of the 18th century, common goods were properties that could not be individualized. However, some laws issued by Pombal and D. Maria I tended to misunderstand the differences between common goods and municipal properties, which progressively led to the partition of the municipalities (1869). In the 19th century, this traditional form of communal ownership was considered an obstacle to the development of agriculture. The common goods were therefore subject to individual appropriation or became the property of the parishes and ecclesiastical counties, but not without strong resistance from the common citizens, especially in the north of Portugal, who through some revolts and subsequent petitions to the king's court, were able to prevent the total absorption of common goods into large farms or reforestation projects (Abel 1988). However, according to Brouwer (1995), the area of ​​the commons was reduced from more than 4 million hectares in 1875, to 450,000 hectares by the advent of the Estado Novo (new state regime) in 1933. The new state regime (…) interpreted the meaning of the word baldio literally (derived from a Teutonic idiom meaning barren, desolate or bald). The government considered these lands to be totally unused or at least used in a way that, from its point of view, was inappropriate or undesirable (Government of Portugal, 1940). Common property was equated with abandonment in terms of use and stewardship… at the heart of the charter… community. The president of Baldio, Luís Ferreira, is also a man with a certain cultural and social capital, essential in the search for new entrepreneurial opportunities. Part of Baldio's social and institutional recognition plan was the organization, in 2007, of a debate on “New perspectives for the administration of Baldios” to find answers to the following concerns: Today we live in an urban and individualistic society, in what sense can we talk about a community way of life? Is rural decay an accelerated process that can be reversed by using the natural resources of the commons as leverage? Will common goods also become extinct with the exodus of villages? What does the future of common goods call into question? ...These are just some issues that reflect the need to adapt the management of common goods to new realities.