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The mayor, Domenico Bennardi, returns to the topic of delays in the construction of the Student Residence in Matera, with construction sites stopped for months and a hunger for student accommodation now evident in the city. About a year ago, the Basilicata Region had indicated a rough timetable, with the restart of works in September 2024 and testing in August 2026. «We sincerely hope that the commitments will be respected – Bennardi remarks – because Matera is now an international university city , but at the same time also a global tourist destination. Two positive aspects that make us proud, but can conflict. Because on the one hand there are the owners of accommodation, who often legitimately tend to maximize profits with tourism, making them inaccessible to students’ pockets; on the other, the many young people who would like to enroll in university faculties active in Matera, but cannot travel as commuters because they are far away. In this situation of impasse – continues Bennardi – the availability of a student residence would be providential. The university accommodation emergency has now exploded throughout Italy, especially in tourist and cultural cities such as Florence, Bologna and Rome. I believe that in the process of establishing the next regional council, it would be appropriate to provide for a delegation to the university, capable of structurally addressing the diversified problems and needs of the university between Matera and Potenza. My concern – concludes Bennardi – also arises from the fact that a city like Matera should be able to offer more accommodation to students, as an indispensable condition also for the very survival of its university faculties. Education cannot and must not become a luxury good reserved for the few.”
