A video of a parkour stunt in the traditional Italian city of Matera has gone viral for all of the flawed 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 town’s streets and over its precious structures.
But fans were left furious when one in all the freerunners caused damage to a historic constructing 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 yet another episode to go, so keep your eyes peeled,” they captioned the post.
It showed Devon jumping from one constructing to a different before slamming against the wall, causing each himself and a segment of the wall to fall off and crash to the bottom.
He may very well be seen immediately grabbing his ankle before yelling “Oh f—k”.
Matera, a city of stone that dates back to the Paleolithic era, is situated within 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 really like you guys and also you’re such an inspiration to me, but I believe that’s why a number of older people hate us; destroying stuff only for fun is such a selfish thing and this little town looks so nice. Was this really crucial?” one person asked.
“I’ve practiced parkour and concrete exploration for a few years now, sorry bro but this was pretty dumb to do this one, other comments already told that but, this is a component of the town’s history and also you ruined and piece of it, hope you’ll be protected next time,” one other annoyed fan wrote.
An Italian local who has been practicing parkour for eight years, said even when the spots are crazy, Matera mustn’t be used as a parkour park.
“This city is a UNESCO heritage site for a reason. We should always enjoy our discipline as much as possible, but we must always also watch where we step, not just for safety but in addition 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 selection is all the time yours. I believe it’s called vandalism. I’d file charges on this matter and ban them from Matera, or another UNESCO site,” one other added on the YouTube clip.
“I actually such as you lot. But it surely’s depressing that you just break people’s houses, hide the evidence & run away. You must pay for that,” a 3rd person wrote.
When others suggested that perhaps the boys didn’t know they might cause damage to the positioning, one follower hit back, saying: “After all they knew that there was a superb likelihood it might break; they routinely disregard property, which is positive if it’s truly abandoned, but this was obviously maintained.”
CNN reports that a lot of Matera’s districts and habitable caves were renovated within the second half of the twentieth century, as the town regained its charm and have become a preferred Instagrammable hotspot.
The well-curated stays of the traditional cave churches, fortified farmhouses and districts make Matera a city of universal value, based on UNESCO.
It’s not the primary time Team Phat has been slammed for his or her stunts. In the beginning of the YouTube clip one in all the members revealed they’ve been banned from Venice.
“What’s poppin’ everyone, today were in Matera,” they said.
“As a few of you recognize, we’ve been banned from Venice and we are able to never return, so we’ve come to the closest thing to it nevertheless it has no water.”
In March 2023, one in all the frontrunners jumped right into a canal in Venice with mayor Luigi Brugnaro branding the act as “stupidity”.
“This ‘subject’ needs to be given a certificate of STUPIDITY …. We try to discover him to denounce him and his companion that made the silly video for social media,” he wrote on X on the time.
