Giovanni Costantino is 31 years old, he is from Turin and he is a chartered accountant by trade: here in Cologne he is one of the 800 Italian volunteers working for the 20th World Youth Day. This is not his first experience as volunteer since he already worked in Santiago, Czestochowa, Denver, Paris, Rome, and Toronto. Last year he was a volunteer in the feast-pilgrimage organised by Catholic Action in Loreto. Costantino contacted Matthias Kopp, press attaché of the WYD, to ask to be present in Cologne. Indeed Costantino would never miss a WYD: "Here he tells us everyone shares the same ideals, and you experience a special contact with people from different countries and with a different background of experiences and culture. And you go home with lots of energy". Of the 634 Italian volunteers who had to do training through seven virtual lessons on the site www.gmg2005.it some are preparing the "cube", i.e. food packs for two days that will be distributed to the pilgrims for the vigil in Marienfeld (20th August), others are working at the press centre for accrediting the journalists, and others still distribute the "kits" for the volunteers or preparing the meals. Another group is working at the Casa Italia, the operational headquarters of the Italian Bishops’ Conference Service for the Youth Pastoral.
