Last updated: 2 September 2026
ESC volunteering in Italy places young people aged 18 to 30 in fully funded projects the length of the country, from social inclusion and youth work to ecovillages, organic farms, media and culture. Every placement runs through the European Solidarity Corps, so your travel, accommodation, food, insurance and a monthly allowance are all covered by the programme. This page is maintained by Youth Works Hub and updated regularly with open placements in Italy, so you always see what is currently available and apply through the official link. Whether you picture yourself in a Genoa community centre, a Sicilian family home, a Ligurian ecovillage or a radio studio in Padova, Italy is one of the busiest ESC destinations in Europe. If you are just starting out, it helps to know what ESC actually covers and who can applyfirst.
Open placements at a glance
- 🇮🇹 Radio & Media Production, Padova (Tele Radio City) · 📅 3 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Home for Unaccompanied Minors, Genoa · 📅 3 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Working with Migrants, Genoa · 📅 3 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Residential Community for Young Girls, Genoa · 📅 3 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Educational Centres, Genoa · 📅 3 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Teens & Children at Il Ce.Sto, Genoa · 📅 3 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Mental Health Recovery, Forlì · 📅 4 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Supporting People with Disabilities, Forlì · 📅 7 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Medieval Festival & Community Regeneration, Eboli · 📅 10 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Youth Information & Community Work, Ravenna · 📅 15 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Children & Teens in a Family Home, Sicily · 📅 20 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Art & Inclusion with People with Disabilities, Sicily · 📅 20 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Volunteering & Social Inclusion, Lucca · 📅 20 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Community Health & Social Support · 📅 23 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Ecovillage & Permaculture, Torri Superiore (Liguria) · 📅 29 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Radio & Media Production, Padova · 📅 29 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Supporting Refugees & Asylum Seekers, Padova · 📅 29 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Community Garden & Rural Regeneration, Tramonti · 📅 30 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Life on an Organic Farm, Calabria · 📅 30 Sep
- 🇮🇹 Community Development in a Rural Village · 📅 1 Oct
- 🇮🇹 Circular Economy & Inclusion, Vicenza · 📅 1 Oct
- 🇮🇹 Ecovillage Life & Solidarity, Ventimiglia · 📅 19 Oct
- 🇮🇹 Green Up Your Community, Tramonti · 📅 31 Oct
- 🇮🇹 Vitality, Rural Monesiglio (Alta Langa) · 📅 31 Oct
- 🇮🇹 Food Recovery & Community Kitchen, Sicily · 📅 1 Nov
- 🇮🇹 Inclusion Support for People with Disabilities & Kids · 📅 31 Dec
What is covered
ESC volunteering in Italy is fully funded. The programme covers your accommodation, food, local transport, insurance and a monthly pocket money allowance, with travel reimbursed according to the distance band between your home country and the project. You also receive language support and a mentor throughout your stay. According to Youth Works Hub's review of these calls, the exact figures vary a little by project: for example, the Ravenna placement lists 330 euro a month with covered accommodation and travel refund, while the Vicenza circular-economy project adds a bike, transport tickets and free lunch at the co-op. Check the exact package on each official project page before you apply.
Who can apply
To join an ESC project in Italy you need to be aged 18 to 30 and legally resident in an EU member state, an ESC associated country, or a partner country eligible for the specific project. A few placements below set a narrower age (for example 22 to 30, or a specific age), so always read the eligibility line on each project. You register once on the ESC Portal, then apply to the ones that match you. No previous experience or qualifications are required, and across your life you can volunteer through ESC for up to 12 months in total.
Open ESC volunteering placements in Italy
1. 🇮🇹 Radio and Media Production with Tele Radio City in Padova 🎙️
📅 Deadline: 3 September 2026
With Tele Radio City in Padova, dive into web journalism, social media, radio, podcasting and video editing across projects on rights, migration, ecology and culture, and help run the legendary Sherwood Festival.
2. 🇮🇹 A Home for Unaccompanied Minors, TUIN in Genoa 🌱
📅 Deadline: 3 September 2026
At La Comunità's "Tuin" residential centre in Genoa, support educators accompanying 16 unaccompanied foreign minors: shared community living, games and workshops, and care of common spaces. Ages 22 to 30.
3. 🇮🇹 Working with Migrants in Genoa 🤝
📅 Deadline: 3 September 2026
With Il Ce.Sto in Genoa's old town, support refugees and asylum seekers in their flats, run integration activities like Italian courses and sport, and help with legal, health and job-market pathways.
4. 🇮🇹 A Residential Community for Young Girls in Genoa 💜
📅 Deadline: 3 September 2026
With Buon Pastore Cooperativa Sociale in Genoa, support staff in residential centres hosting young women on their path to independence: preparing activities, outings and trips, and sharing daily life.
5. 🇮🇹 Educational Centres with La Comunità in Genoa 📚
📅 Deadline: 3 September 2026
At La Comunità's daily educational and social-educational centres in Genoa, support educators with minors and fragile families: school pick-ups, homework support, and recreational, creative and sports activities. Ages 20 to 30.
6. 🇮🇹 With Teens and Children at Il Ce.Sto in Genoa 🎨
📅 Deadline: 3 September 2026
With Il Ce.Sto in Genoa's historic centre, create social animation and games for kids and teens, run workshops, events and sports, offer afterschool tutoring and support intercultural events in Luzzati.
7. 🇮🇹 Supporting Mental Health Recovery at Ca' Rossa in Forlì 🏠
📅 Deadline: 4 September 2026
At "Ca' Rossa" in Forlì, a residential house for around 12 people with mental health issues and/or intellectual disability, support daily-life autonomy, recreational activities and creative workshops.
8. 🇮🇹 Supporting People with Disabilities at Casa Colonica in Forlì 💛
📅 Deadline: 7 September 2026
With Cooperativa L'Accoglienza in Forlì, support staff in recreational and educational group activities for 12 residents with disabilities, help them explore the local community and organise leisure moments.
9. 🇮🇹 Medieval Festival and Community Regeneration in Eboli 🏰
📅 Deadline: 10 September 2026
An ESC volunteering team with Costiera Amalfitana Riserva Biosfera in Eboli: help run a three-day medieval event, make plant-based products and wool crafts, and work on community garden maintenance and urban regeneration.
10. 🇮🇹 Youth Information and Community Work in Ravenna 🏛️
📅 Deadline: 15 September 2026
Six months in Ravenna supporting a Youth Information Centre, running social media and podcasts, promoting Erasmus+ and ESC and helping with children's non-formal education, with 330 euro a month, covered accommodation, travel refund and health insurance.
11. 🇮🇹 Supporting Children and Teens in a Sicilian Family Home 💛
📅 Deadline: 20 September 2026
Join a family home in Sicily supporting children and adolescents in vulnerable situations through educational tutoring, recreational games, life-skills mentoring, sports and creative workshops. No experience needed.
12. 🇮🇹 Art and Inclusion with People with Disabilities in Sicily 🎭
📅 Deadline: 20 September 2026
At a centre in Sicily promoting inclusion for people with physical, intellectual and developmental disabilities, work through art, drama and life-skills workshops to break down barriers and build an inclusive community.
13. 🇮🇹 Volunteering and Social Inclusion with CNV in Lucca 🤝
📅 Deadline: 20 September 2026
With Centro Nazionale per il Volontariato in Lucca, work on youth, migration and active citizenship: coordinating projects for young immigrants, supporting the Civil Service desk and cooperating with the ESC office.
14. 🇮🇹 Community Health and Social Support 🩺
📅 Deadline: 23 September 2026
Support health education, food aid distribution and social inclusion activities for people with disabilities and homeless individuals in a small Northern Italian community.
15. 🇮🇹 Ecovillage, Permaculture and Community Living at Torri Superiore 🌿
📅 Deadline: 29 September 2026
At Torri Superiore, a 35-year-old ecovillage in western Liguria, share daily community life while getting hands-on with farming, trail maintenance, dry-stone walls and cooking for visitors and refugees.
16. 🇮🇹 Radio and Media Production in Padova 🎙️
📅 Deadline: 29 September 2026
Join Tele Radio City in Padova, home to Radio Sherwood and the summer Sherwood Festival: pick your focus among web writing, social media, radio directing, podcasting or video editing on migration, rights and culture.
17. 🇮🇹 Supporting Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Padova 🤝
📅 Deadline: 29 September 2026
With Popoli Insieme in Padova, support residents in first-reception apartments, help with daily needs and links to local services, and co-organise sport, social and community events that make integration real.
18. 🇮🇹 Community Garden and Rural Regeneration in Tramonti 🌱
📅 Deadline: 30 September 2026
In the mountain village of Tramonti in southern Italy, live in a small community working the garden, harvesting seasonal produce, researching wild edible plants and running sustainability workshops.
19. 🇮🇹 Life on a Certified Organic Farm in Calabria 🌱
📅 Deadline: 30 September 2026
At Fattoria l'Arca, a certified organic farm in southern Italy, get hands-on with organic gardening, animal care, harvesting and kitchen work with garden produce. An active experience starting at 6am.
20. 🇮🇹 Community Development in a Rural Village 🌿
📅 Deadline: 1 October 2026
Immerse yourself in rural Italian life alongside locals and internationals of all ages, taking part in gardening, planting, manual work and painting, and helping build an active, sustainable community.
21. 🇮🇹 Circular Economy and Inclusion in Vicenza ♻️
📅 Deadline: 1 October 2026
Spend nine months with a social cooperative in Vicenza: support second-hand shops, bike repair, the co-op café, textile reuse and environmental education, working alongside people from vulnerable backgrounds. Includes shared accommodation, 150 euro monthly allowance, 6 euro daily pocket money, a bike and free lunch.
22. 🇮🇹 Ecovillage Life, Permaculture and Solidarity near Ventimiglia 🌿
📅 Deadline: 19 October 2026
In a medieval ecovillage above Ventimiglia, join a team of eight in organic and permaculture farming, landscape and trail maintenance, and solidarity actions for refugees and asylum seekers with local NGOs.
23. 🇮🇹 Green Up Your Community in Tramonti 🌱
📅 Deadline: 31 October 2026
In Tramonti above the Amalfi Coast, join a small community around its garden, work with wood, learn food traditions, run sustainability workshops and manage social media. Short-term (2 months) or long-term until December.
24. 🇮🇹 Vitality, Four Months in Rural Monesiglio 🎨
📅 Deadline: 31 October 2026
In Italy's Alta Langa region, help make a rural area more vibrant by renovating and developing Casa Parco, a future cultural hub, turning an old building into a place where culture and community grow.
25. 🇮🇹 Food Recovery and Community Kitchen in Sicily 🍝
📅 Deadline: 1 November 2026
With The Good Kitchen in Sicily, prepare and serve nutritious meals, rescue and sort food from local supermarkets, build food boxes for families in need and run cooking workshops with youth.
26. 🇮🇹 Inclusion Support for People with Disabilities and Kids 💙
📅 Deadline: 31 December 2026
Support daily life at a residential and day centre for people with disabilities and local kids, contributing to creative, recreational and inclusion-focused activities as part of a multicultural volunteer team.
🇪🇸 Curious about other countries? Take a look at our complete list of open ESC volunteering placements in Spain →
Explore more
- See all ESC volunteering opportunities across every country.
- Looking at other routes in Italy? Check Erasmus+ in Italy and careers and internships in Italy.
- Prefer another destination? Browse ESC volunteering in Spain and ESC volunteering in Portugal.
Start your ESC placement in Italy
ESC volunteering in Italy is one of the most rewarding ways to live abroad for free while doing work that matters, whether that means supporting unaccompanied minors in Genoa, running a radio show in Padova, or living the permaculture life in a Ligurian ecovillage. Because every placement runs through the European Solidarity Corps, the funding is consistent: travel, accommodation, food, insurance and a monthly allowance, with language support and a mentor from the very first day. The projects on this page span social inclusion, disability support, migration, rural regeneration, organic farming, media and culture, so there is a placement to fit almost any interest, from Sicily and Calabria in the south to Liguria and Veneto in the north.
New placements in Italy open throughout the year, and this page is kept up to date so you always see live opportunities rather than expired calls. The most useful next step is to register on the ESC Portal and then follow the step-by-step guide to applying so your profile is ready when the right project appears. Check the eligibility and age line on each placement, note the deadline, and apply directly through the official link. For clear, plain-language explanations of how these projects work, Youth Works Hub keeps a full library of ESC and Erasmus+ guides so you can apply with confidence.
