Rome (TAN): Airbnb will sponsor Italian Sabbatical in the village of Grottole, as part of a project to get involved and contribute towards regenerating a historic destination that runs the risk of disappearing.
The online hospitality company has teamed up with Wonder Grottole, a local NGO that promotes urban renewal, for the project.
Located in southern Italy’s Matera province, Grottole is a village with 300 people and over 600 empty houses, which could soon disappear.
As an attempt to restore the village, Airbnb and Wonder Grottole will select four volunteers as Experience and Home hosts for three months.
Responsibilities of temporary citizens
The volunteers will be turned into temporary residents of Grottole with responsibilities to shoulder, including learning Italian, helping run the community vegetable garden, and learning to cook Italian dishes made from produce they will grow themselves.
Before beginning life as a citizen of the village and co-hosts with Wonder Grottole, the four volunteers will undergo one month of training.
While volunteers will be responsible for ushering visitors into the local community centre or a traditional home in the village, they will also serve as hosts of Social Impact Experiences to share traditional skills including vegetable farming, honey harvesting, pasta making and olive oil production with guests.
Joe Gebbia, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Airbnb, said: “Italy is an extraordinary country with a strong and vibrant rural community, countless hilltop villages and a passionate and welcoming culture.”
“We want to help preserve these communities so they continue for generations to come. By inspiring and supporting others to get involved and make real contributions to village life, we hope it shines a light on the beauty of rural Italy,” he added.
Speaking of the initiative, Founder of Wonder Grottole Silvio Donadio said: “Our dream is to repopulate the historical centre. In ten years we’d like to see the village full of people from different cultures perfectly integrated with the local community.”
Application dos and don’ts
Airbnb will sponsor the Italian Sabbatical as part of its partnership with Fondazione Matera Basilicata 2019, which aims to promote the idea of visitors as temporary residents involving themselves with both the local community and guests visiting Basilicata for Matera European Capital of Culture 2019.
Candidates must be at least 18 years of age, and residents of the United States, Canada (except the province of Quebec) Mexico, Argentina (except the province of Mendoza), Italy, India, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Australia or Japan.
They should be able to live in Grottole from June to August 2019, and be able to speak conversational English. The selected list of volunteers will be announced on March 29, 2019.
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