However Matera not too long ago attracted consideration of a special variety, after a London-based parkour group carried out stunts there — and broken a historic constructing within the course of.
The stunt comes amid growing scrutiny of the toll of human exercise — from vacationers to influencers, avenue artists and athletes — on historic cities and monuments. Many cities have put in place measures to curb overtourism, whereas some have banned guests from sure scorching spots due to reviews of unhealthy conduct.
In Matera, the traceurs — the identify of those that apply parkour, which consists of leaping, working, climbing and extra to journey throughout buildings — recorded themselves performing a stunt on a constructing and inflicting a protruding stone to fall off.
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“Disguise the proof,” a voice behind the digicam will be heard instructing a member of the crew in a video revealed in April by the globe-trotting parkour group Crew Phat.
Giuseppe Camporeale, a spokesperson within the workplace of the mayor of Matera, mentioned in an electronic mail that the town was alerted and is “conscious of the difficulty.” “Technicians are checking the constructing, so actions might be taken based mostly on their reviews,” he added.
Neither UNESCO nor Crew Phat responded to requests for remark from The Washington Put up.
Crew Phat beforehand claimed duty for a stunt in Venice during which a person threw himself off a constructing right into a canal — prompting the mayor to name him an “fool” and vow to arrest him. The group later mentioned it obtained a nice and was banned from the town.
Within the 23-minute lengthy model of the video filmed in Matera, a member of Crew Phat will be heard saying, “We’ve been banned from Venice, so we will by no means return. So, we’ve come to the closest factor to it.”
The video reveals the traceurs performing stunts throughout Matera. Ultimately, one in all them will be heard suggesting to Devon McIntosh, a member of the crew, that he use a stone jutting from the facet of a constructing to launch himself to a different rooftop.
“It’s steady sufficient you could simply cling on it, however I’m scared it might simply break,” the particular person will be heard telling McIntosh. “You’re a bit lighter than me, so it may be extra of a you problem. … Prepare to leap.”
Within the video, McIntosh first efficiently jumps on the stone and launches himself from it onto the alternative rooftop. Two others are then filmed doing the identical leap, with one showing to linger on the stone. Then, the footage reveals McIntosh doing the leap once more — and the stone offers away below his ft, whereas he plummets to the bottom. He exclaims to the digicam that he harm his ankle, and later reveals what look like accidents on his thigh and elbow.
“We had been actually trusting that factor an excessive amount of,” he says.
A clip of the stunt, which has been seen 2.4 million occasions because it was posted on Instagram two weeks in the past, sparked offended reactions on-line, with many customers commenting that parkour needs to be practiced with extra take care of the encompassing atmosphere.
“Even when the spots are loopy Matera shouldn’t be used as a parkour park, that stone might have been there earlier than the invention of America and even earlier,” wrote one commenter, who mentioned he’s Italian and practices parkour.
“It was actually flawed to interrupt that rock that possible had loads of historical past and pleasure for the homeowners and authentic builders,” one other commenter mentioned.
As journey has change into extra inexpensive and accessible, reviews of unhealthy conduct from guests have elevated. Final yr, the supervisor of a villa in northern Italy mentioned a 150-year-old statue toppled over and shattered after German vacationers tried to take an image with it, based on Reuters. In 2022, a Saudi customer drove a Maserati down the world-famous Spanish Steps in Rome, damaging them, based on police; two weeks later, an American vacationer threw an electrical scooter down the Spanish Steps, inflicting about $27,000 in injury.
Individuals have additionally been criticized for utilizing monuments as sports activities arenas. In 2021, a Singaporean man was charged with willfully interfering with a nationwide monument after he wakeboarded at a struggle memorial within the metropolis state, based on the Straits Occasions.
