Parkour tourists damage ancient building in Italy, sparking backlash over stunt
A video of a parkour stunt in the ancient Italian city of Matera has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.
London-based parkour group, Team Phat, which has a 240,000-strong Instagram following, shared a YouTube clip showing the group climbing and leaping through the city’s streets and over its precious structures.
But fans were left furious when one of the freerunners caused damage to a historic building after they shared the stunt on their Instagram page.
“Devon.phat coming in hot with a ferocious knock to the noggin from our Italy tour on YouTube. We’ve got one more episode to go, so keep your eyes peeled,” they captioned the post.
It showed Devon jumping from one building to another before slamming against the wall, causing both himself and a segment of the wall to fall off and crash to the ground.
He could be seen immediately grabbing his ankle before yelling “Oh f—k”.
Matera, a city of stone that dates back to the Paleolithic era, is located in the Basilicata region in Southern Italy.
In 1993, it was granted UNESCO World Heritage status and was the European Capital of Culture in 2019.
As such, the stunt immediately copped backlash with fans questioning why they engage in parkour on historic buildings.
“I love you guys and you’re such an inspiration to me, but I think that’s why a lot of older people hate us; destroying stuff just for fun is such a selfish thing and this little town looks so nice. Was this really necessary?” one person asked.
“I’ve practiced parkour and urban exploration for a couple of years now, sorry bro but this was pretty dumb to try this one, other comments already told that but, this is part of the town’s history and you ruined and piece of it, hope you’ll be safe next time,” another annoyed fan wrote.
An Italian local who has been practicing parkour for eight years, said even if the spots are crazy, Matera should not be used as a parkour park.
“This city is a UNESCO heritage site for a reason. We should enjoy our discipline as much as possible, but we should also watch where we step, not only for safety but also for respect of culture and history,” they wrote.
One person said he hopes Team Phat is fined “a minimum of $100,000 for damaging a UNESCO World Heritage Site”.
“From hero to zero … the choice is always yours. I think it’s called vandalism. I would file charges on this matter and ban them from Matera, or any other UNESCO site,” another added on the YouTube clip.
“I really like you lot. But it’s depressing that you break people’s houses, hide the evidence & run away. You should pay for that,” a third person wrote.
When others suggested that perhaps the boys didn’t know they would cause damage to the site, one follower hit back, saying: “Of course they knew that there was a good chance it would break; they routinely disregard property, which is fine if it’s truly abandoned, but this was obviously maintained.”
CNN reports that many of Matera’s districts and habitable caves were renovated in the second half of the 20th century, as the city regained its charm and became a popular Instagrammable hotspot.
The well-curated remains of the ancient cave churches, fortified farmhouses and districts make Matera a city of universal value, according to UNESCO.
It’s not the first time Team Phat has been slammed for their stunts. At the start of the YouTube clip one of the members revealed they have been banned from Venice.
“What’s poppin’ everyone, today were in Matera,” they said.
“As some of you know, we’ve been banned from Venice and we can never go back, so we’ve come to the closest thing to it but it has no water.”
In March 2023, one of the frontrunners jumped into a canal in Venice with mayor Luigi Brugnaro branding the act as “stupidity”.
“This ‘subject’ should be given a certificate of STUPIDITY …. We are trying to identify him to denounce him and his companion that made the stupid video for social media,” he wrote on X at the time.
