L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 2019 www.italoamericano.org 8 Y ou're young, smart and hold a presti- gious degree: the world is at your feet! Or not, because employment opportunities are meagre and you're still strug- gling with reaching the end of the month, when you aren't just living off your parents, at home. Or you may be a trendy profes- sional, well paid and successful, but dangerously close to burning out. You may be curious and in need of some change in your life, just…well, just because. These seem all perfectly decent reasons to try something different and seek a life changing experience. So, picture this: an idyllic southern Italian village, perched on top of a hill, beautifully nes- tled within one of Italy's most picturesque regions and only a stone-throw away from Matera, this year's European capital of culture. Imagine you could move there for three months and learn all about the way its people have been living for centuries: crafts- manship, agriculture, food. Everything you can think of, you'll learn. And you'll stay there rent free. This is, in short, the idea sponsored by AirBnB and intro- duced by Wonder Grottole, a non-for-profit organization locat- ed in Grottole, a small 300 peo- ple hamlet in Basilicata. Wonder Grottole has been working hard to save the village, which has been loosing inhabitants and today counts more than 600 empty homes in its historical centre: a place in danger to become a città fantasma, a ghost town and, in truth, far from being the only one in the country. Research conducted by Legam- biente, the country's institution working to track the state of our national environment, shows that over half of Italy's smallest towns and villages are in danger of disappearing within the next handful of decades. 2.430 places, today home to 3 million Italians, destined to vanish, because no one will be living in them any- more. The problem is real, then, and Grottole seems to have taken a serious look at ways to keep itself alive, thus creating the Wonder Grottole organisation. Enters AirBnB, which decided to endorse a curious, and certainly interesting, initiative: "sponsor- ing a unique opportunity for four people to move to the small vil- lage of Grottole for three months and experience authentic rural life in Italy." The project was charmingly named The Italian Sabbatical and to participate you only need to be 18 and willing to live in Grottole for three months, from June to August 2019. AirBnB and Wonder Grottole made a fantastic job at present- ing the project and, in fact, the village itself: it is a very pretty place indeed and, at least from the pictures, it does look like the most charming of hamlets, a lit- tle jewel on top of a hill, with its own castle, medieval walls and cobbled streets. A place where everyone knows everyone and people see to live following the magical, ancestral rhythms of nature. On the initiative's web- site, special residents (those who will work side by side with the successful candidates) are intro- duced to readers: there's Rocco, hairstylist and beekeeper, from whom you'll learn all about honey and how to make it; Vin- cenzo, whose family produces olive oil and who'll teach you the secret of his frantoio. Then Rosa, "the best cook in town," ready to share her culinary secrets with us and, finally, Andrea, the founder of Wonder Grottole, ready to explain his plans to keep this wonderful community alive. The opportunity of a lifetime, a dream come true, the begin- ning of a new life, where stress, materialism and that endless rush to appearing and possessing will finally end to leave space for what's really important: savoring the moment, returning to our roots and enjoying mean- ingful personal connections. A thought yours truly, indeed, had while checking out the Wonder Grottole website. Yet, as incredi- ble as this experience can be, the question remains: can it really save Grottole from dying? First of all, let's think about the logistics of participating: while a survey conducted by AirBnB shows how 1 in 3 Amer- icans would love to take a sab- batical to avoid capitulating to stress, and more than a half said they'd love to learn about a new culture, immersing themselves entirely in it, issues such as affordability and, crucially, the ultimate benefits to small com- munities of this type of interven- tions need to be considered. Money: if you're selected, you'll need to renounce to work - and your salary - for three full months. Some may be able to take holidays, sure, but it's unlikely your boss will be happy to pay full wages while you learn how to make honey in the Italian countryside. In other words, if you're in full time employment, participating to The Italian Sab- batical may be hard. If you're unemployed, retired or actually have been considering to move to the South of Italy to live your Under the Tuscan Sun's type of dream, things may be dif- ferent: but while the latter are probably the people Wonder Grottole is looking for, they are also likely to be the smallest group applying to the project. And even if the four winners do, in fact, plan to settle in Grottole after the end of the three months, will their presence truly and deeply make a difference in the depopulation pattern than has left this beautiful place almost entire- ly inhabited? While living a life in the country is fantastic and embrac- ing a more traditional lifestyle has become more and more com- mon, especially among the younger generations, there are necessities to be fulfilled and expectations to be met, when it comes to get people to move somewhere. And unfortunately, the aesthetic and human factors are not the only ones. Will the four successful candidates be offered a job in Grottole, after the end of their three months stay? Is the initiative going to be repeated in time? And what's the value of having four strangers living in town for a while, if they are not going to stay and con- tribute to its economy in the long run? Grottole looks like a beautiful place that deserves to be valued and discovered, just like many other villages, everywhere on the peninsula. Yet, how and to what extent the presence of four peo- ple for three months can save it from disappearing remains diffi- cult to assess. Only time will tell. Grottole, Matera, Basilicata, Italy: landscape of the old town on the hill and the countryside © Ermess | Dreamstime.com AirBnB: can it repopulate the Italian countryside? NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS FRANCESCA BEZZONE Grottole, Matera, Basilicata, Italy: the ruins of the ancient church dedicated to Saints Luca and Giuliano in the old town of one of the oldest villages in the region © Ermess | Dreamstime.com

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