Discover a hidden Italy far from tourist routes with the great masters
There is an Italy made of stone and silence, of ruins suspended in time and islands adrift from the present. It is an Italy far from postcards and tourist guides, one that speaks in layers—of abandonment, resilience, and beauty yet untouched.
For those who choose to study architecture at Yacademy, this is where the journey begins.
In the ghost town of Craco, perched on a hill in Basilicata, architecture is an archaeological echo—a dialogue between what remains and what resists. On the windswept island of Asinara, once a high-security prison off Sardinia’s coast, emptiness becomes a spatial condition. The Gelso Lighthouse, on the black volcanic shores of Sicily’s Vulcano island, stands as a solitary marker in the landscape—where function and myth converge. In Collodi Park, in the Tuscan hills, narrative and architecture weave together in a surreal garden of imagination. And then there is Roccascalegna, in Abruzzo, where a medieval fortress clings to a cliff edge—half architecture, half apparition. It is a place where gravity and history seem suspended, and where each stone invites questions on permanence, defense, and the sublime.
These are just some of the design workshops’ themes of the just launched Yacademy’s new educational offer. The young architects selected will move beyond the walls of the classroom and visit first-hand the locations of the workshops, all based on real design cases provided by prestigious clients. Leading the students on this journey will be tutors of excellence working in some of the world’s most renowned architectural firms: Kengo Kuma and Associates, SANAA, Herzog & de Meuron, BIG, Aires Mateus among others.
At Yacademy, every visit, every encounter, every workshop is imagined to spark imagination and deepen the students’ understanding of how place shapes design—and how design can, in turn, elevate the place. Each of these environments poses specific questions to the architect: how do we inhabit abandonment? How does architecture endure? What are the new technologies for building more sustainable architectures?
Yacademy believes that architectural education must engage with the real. By entering spaces usually closed to the public, students access not just places, but perspectives. They trace lines across landscapes few have walked, sketch in silence, observe with care, and build a deeper understanding of architecture’s cultural and emotional weight.
Yacademy offers a unique journey, will you join it?
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