Laboratorio Mediterraneo - I Sassi di Matera
YAP Italia - Basilicata Region/South of Italy

I Sassi di Matera is the most outstanding, intact example of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean region, perfectly adapted to its terrain and ecosystem. The first inhabited zone dates from the Palaeolithic, while later settlements illustrate a number of significant stages in human history. Matera is in the southern region of Basilicata.

I Sassi di Matera are nowadays partly inhabited and they do undoubtedly represent the history of the city of Matera and a wide part of its own culture and heritage. Unfortunately a big part of this incredible human patrimony is today threatened by a lack of care and attention from the side of the local and the national authorities. I Sassi were included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage in 1993.

YAP Italia is a national voluntary service organisation aiming at societies of justice and human solidarity. It works in order to promote peace, intercultural dialogue, mutual understanding and knowledge based societies. It believes in non - formal education and voluntary service as tools for achieving its goals. Created in Italy in 1971, based in Rome, it is the Italian branch of Youth Action for Peace. At national level it co - operates with several local and regional organisations, non - formal groups and local authorities. Its main activities are: international workcamps, long term voluntary service projects, seminars and training sessions.

The project in Matera started in 2005 when YAP Italia organised 4 international workcamps in co - operation with the Italian Fund for Environment (FAI - Fondo per l'Ambiente Italiano), the local City Hall, the regional government, local stakeholders and more than 30 international partner organisations.

The main objective of the global action the organisation is realising in the city of Matera is the creation of a Mediterranean Youth Center in the heart of the historical part of the city: I Sassi di Matera. The Youth center would be a place where young people from all over the Mediterranean region could come together in order to get closer to their cultural heritage and the roots of their identities; it would promote youth participation and involvement and be a place where young people could voice their needs and expectations toward the conservation and the valorisation of world heritage and culture.

The 4 workcamps YAP Italia organised in 2005 were followed by a 5th international project in 2006. More than 100 international volunteers participated in the development of cultural and environmental actions aiming at promoting the local world heritage and its protection. Through those actions, the Italian organisation wants to involve young people in the first stages of the all process.