The small Italian village of
Grottole, a town of 300 residents and 600 uninhabited homes in
the southern region of Basilicata, is getting ready to host five
volunteers who were selected by Airbnb to become temporary
residents as part of its "Italian Sabbatical" initiative.
The project, staged in collaboration with the non-profit
Wonder Grottole, aims "to revitalize the village that is at risk
of disappearing".
Grottole is located just 20 minutes from Matera, the 2019
European Capital of Culture, and the five volunteers - Pablo,
Anne, Helena, Remo and Darrell- will spend three months
experiencing rural life and learning about local culture
together with residents of the village, such as Enza, who will
serve as a cooking teacher.
"Based on what I saw in the video, they seem like really good
people," Enza said of the volunteers, while she worked on making
homemade pasta.
"I really hope that Grottole is revitalised. The more of us
there are, the better we will be," she said.
News of the Italian Sabbatical project travelled the world,
and over 280,000 people applied to be selected for the project.
Locals have already prepared homes to host the five
volunteers who were chosen, and the volunteers will have a full
schedule of activities involving the entire village.
In the morning, they will have their cappuccino and cornetto
with Caterina at the Zolletta coffee bar, which opened six years
ago and is now the only coffee bar left in the historic centre.
"For foreigners our coffee is a bit strong," Caterina said.
"I can't wait for them to arrive; I want to take advantage of
the exchange to learn English well," she said.
Helping the volunteers to translate between Italian and
English, at least in the beginning, will be Italian teacher
Michela, 29, who is taking time away from her work teaching
Italian to migrants at classes through SPRAR reception centres.
Gardening will be the task of Mario, 60, who is proud to show
the volunteers the bounty of the Italian garden.
"They will come to learn," he said.
"We will lovingly teach them about our land, because if the
tomato isn't tended properly from the moment it's planted, it
won't grow well," he said.
Rocco, a local hairstylist who slightly resembles the Italian
actor Riccardo Scamarcio, will lead the volunteers in learning
all about beekeeping.
"Bees have been my passion since I was a child," Rocco said.
"Now they're on the sainfoin flowers, and the honey that
comes out is really sweet. When the volunteers arrive we will be
ready for the honey extraction and potting. I feel hopeful; they
also seem really happy to come here," he said.
For Airbnb, this is the first of a broader project targeting
southern Italy that includes the upcoming Matera 2019 Experience
Academy, the first project of its kind in experiential tourism.
The project in Grottole will give locals the chance to make
their village known to the wider world in the hopes of bringing
in both tourism and jobs.
Grottole Mayor Francesco De Giacomo called the project a
"one-of-a-kind opportunity".
"Even if I had had 100,000 euros to invest in marketing, I
never could have gotten the same results in terms of
visibility," De Giacomo said.
"I hope the trend of depopulation, which is afflicting many
small Italian villages, can be slowed. And I hope the can-do
spirit I see today among the people in my community also stays,"
he said.
Those who still live here, such as Enza, don't want to
abandon Grottole.
"I've always lived here, and I'll never leave," she said.
Mario, speaking from his garden, echoed her sentiments.
"The Sassi di Mattera have nothing on Grottole. Tourists
should come to discover it," Mario said.
Michela expressed her sentiments about Grottole in a word:
"Wow - Grottole is 'Wow'".
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