You might have noticed people from this local during Agoras, because they always prepare something choreographic for their roll calls. We are speaking about AEGEE-Napoli, an antenna located on the South of Italy. The local is 24 years old and in its history counts several events, including an Autumn Agora in 2006 and a NWM in 2012. We had a lovely chat with their President Flavia Mariano and HR responsible Tullio Pacelli.  

The AEGEEan: Present your local.

Flavia: Since 1993, AEGEE-Napoli has been a very dynamic local. Right now we have almost 70 members, and most of them are very active, thus allowing us to organise international events every year and lots of activities at the local level. Our weekly meeting is more than just a members’ reunion, as we are first a (big) group of friends. We meet to share a beer, have a chat and plan the future events and travelling, and every week more people are joining our family.

You recently had your NYE event. How did it go?

Flavia: Incredibly well, we were really surprised by the great chemistry that arose between the participants from the very first night. We had a great group of participants, they were always ready to explore more and party more, even if they had slept only three hours the night before. But the success of the event is also due to the great job done by the main organiser, William Mazza. Things were planned not to go wrong!

Your city, Napoli, is often associated with pizza, mozzarella, the folklore, but also with organised crime. How do you live the latter as member of AEGEE?

Tullio: First of all, Napoli is not only pizza and mozzarella! For example, did you know that Napoli has one of the biggest historical centres in Europe? That boasts an unique quantity of museum? Napoli is one of the few cities in the world that has gone through five historical phases (Greek, Roman, Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque) and has the oldest and most beautiful lyric theatre in the world.

About the criminality, yes, it is true that there is a high criminality level, as in lots of other European cities. What is untrue is the portrait that the media give of the city, they intensify the phenomenon, and despite what they say it is possible to lead a normal life and accomplish important projects in Napoli. Most Neapolitans are involved in the “fight” against the problems, but as I said before the media don’t seem interested in showing it. There are lots of associations, just like us, that not only promote the culture and beauty of our city, but also fight the crime. Some associations have literally saved abandoned public spaces from neglection and have turned them into important social centres for entire neighbourhoods. We too have had the occasion to use some of these spaces during our events.

As AEGEE-Napoli we try to do our part in the fight against stereotypes. For us, it is important not just to show the city, but to make people fall in love with it, and we are very proud to say that this happens very often. We share little pieces of our life with our participants trying to show them how we live, trying to make them feel Neapolitans for one day (or one week) and many of them want to come back, explore more and spend more time time with us.

Is it hard to present your local despite possible prejudices? In which way do you think you break stereotypes?

Flavia: I do not find it hard, being every year on top of the list for number of applications received for the SU means something. AEGEE members (at least most of them) are very open-minded, they know that most of the times prejudices are untrue and everyone recognises that our hard work is stronger than possible prejudice.

For sure we break at least one stereotype, the first rule in the organisation of our events is “Be always on time”. This is the thing that surprises our participants the most, they think that because they are in Napoli they can sleep five minutes more in the morning… oh, how wrong they are!

Also, we try to make the best out of stereotypes, therefore we have a partnership with the Consorzio Mozzarella di Bufala Campana.

Tullio: Fortunately, in AEGEE we have almost never had this problem, also because most of the AEGEE members I have known do not mind stereotypes and they know that the city is not as someone paints it. The great number of applications that we receive for our events are the proof. But, of course, sometimes I speak with some people that are “afraid’’ to come here because of what they read about Napoli on the Internet. When this happens we invite the “afraid’’ people to come to Napoli, and we could make a list of people who came, changed their opinion  and now are willing to come back again and again.

Have you ever organised/will you organise any event focusing on a youth perspective towards the fight for legality?

Flavia: No, and we are not planning any of it in the next future. We want to focus on the positive side of our city.
Tullio: We do not do a “direct” fight for legality, but with all of our actions, projects and events we are indirectly fighting for it. For now, we do not plan to organise a legality themed event, we feel that there are other associations  in Napoli doing this better than what we could do. For example, a few months ago AEGEE-Napoli collaborated with “Sii turista della tua città’’ [Eng, Be the turist in your city, ed.], an association involved with the cultural promotion of Napoli, and together we cleaned the beautiful staircase of Petraio, dating back to the XVII century.

What do you think makes AEGEE-Napoli special?

We are firstly a group of friends that enjoy working together and we are blessed to live in the most beautiful city in the word.

What are the future plans of your local?

Keep doing what we are doing! We will organise a SU with the same team as last year plus some great addition, and we are really eager to live together again for two amazing weeks. We organised the first and only Pub Crawl in Napoli in 2015 and for 2017 we decided to make it a monthly appointment. Other associations are starting to copy us, and we are almost proud of it. We have a packed activity plan for this year, and we do not want to reveal everything now. We invite AEGEE members to join us in Napoli to know more about our plans and discover our city.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Even though AEGEE-Brescia is considered a small antenna in the Network, having almost fifty members, that doesn’t mean it’s an inactive antenna. Right before the Agora, the antenna organized a successful Network Meeting (NWM), gathering 35 participants in the north of Italy. Next to that, they set up initiatives like European talks and leadership courses, proving that an antenna can be very active with only a small number of (active) members. The AEGEEan thought it was time to find out more about AEGEE-Brescia, and spoke to Mattia Scandella, the current treasurer of the antenna.

The AEGEEan: First of all, tell us a little bit about your local. When were you founded, how many members do you have and how many of them are active?

Mattia: AEGEE-Brescia, born in 1997, was founded by Patrizia Menchiari in a small office of the university of Brescia where it remains active. Through the years it has grown more and more until today, when we have almost 50 members. The current board consists of fifteen active members.

What makes your local unique in the AEGEE Network?

Even though we are a small antenna, we still organize interesting events, both on the local and international level and for our members and all the students in Brescia. From the Summer University, having fifty participants and organizers involved, to the Network Meeting, European talks, leadership courses and other internal activities targeted to reinforce our group.

In October you organized a NWM. How do you look back on the event?

The NWM was good, although we know some things could be organized and managed better (but this is normal for every event, we like to look at our mistakes to make it better for the next time). Our favourite moment was the European Night in which everybody had fun, especially because it was organized in a private area.

What tips do you have for locals who want to organize a NWM too?

Find a way to keep the attention during the sessions (both of participants and of organizers) even in a less serious way if required, but always keeping the right aim at why a NWM is organized.

What are your plans for the upcoming months with AEGEE-Brescia?

Leadership courses, regional and internal meetings, maybe a spring break and the next Summer University.

Is there still a dream you have for the local that you would like to fulfill one day?

To increase the number of members and organize something important like an European Planning Meeting!

Last summer, you organized a Summer Course. Will you be organizing a Summer University/ Course again this year and what will it look like?

Yes, as every year we are planning to organize a SU. It will probably be really similar the previous one, but introducing some changes based on the feedback given by participants of the past three editions. The main change we want to apply is to accommodate participants in a gym instead of the comfortable hostel we used till today, because we would like to get the real AEGEE feeling!

The Rainbow Network is known for being really close. Do you cooperate with other Italian locals?

Not yet, but we have good relations with the antennae close to us. We would like to cooperate with one of them in order to organize an event together, like a Travel Summer University!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen