BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 18 -
Nova Gorica and Gorizia will be European Capital of Culture 2025. The announcement of the Slovenian Committee was met with a roar in Piazza della Transalpina, where the inhabitants of the two border towns gathered.
Ljubljana, Piran and Ptuj also remained in contention.
European Capital of Culture is an honorary title awarded each year to two cities belonging to two different member states of the European Union.
The aim of the initiative is to protect the richness and diversity of European culture, to enhance the characteristics common to the peoples and to develop a system that can generate an important economic result.
Together with Nova Gorica and Gorizia, just designated by the Slovenian Committee, for 2025 the choice fell on Chemnitz, a German city located almost on the border with the Czech Republic that suffered serious damage during the Second World War.
"Today not only Gorizia and Nova Gorica have won, but Europe has won".
This was stated by the mayor of the Isonzo capital, Rodolfo Ziberna, addressing the president of the Slovenian jury, immediately after the proclamation.
"Our goal is not just to realize the 600 scheduled events - he added -, and it's not just to get to 2025: we want to get to 2035, 2045, 2055. The goal is to change , through culture at 360 degrees, the culture of an entire territory, and to offer a future of international cohesion and integration to our children and grandchildren, but not only: to those from all over Europe ".
"If we have succeeded here - concluded Ziberna -, where conditions were the worst due to the tragedies of the twentieth century, undoubtedly those other areas in Europe that suffer from being border territories can also succeed".
The governor of Friuli Venezia Giulia Massimiliano Fedriga commented: "It is a well-deserved triumph that fills with satisfaction not only the cities of Gorizia and Nova Gorica, once again united in this common goal, but the whole of Friuli Venezia Giulia which will not fail to benefit and growth from this opportunity also with the support of the regional administration ".
For Lega MEP Marco Dreosto, "it is an excellent result for the Friuli Venezia Giulia team".
"I guarantee my total commitment to Brussels and Strasbourg so that there is always a privileged channel between the European institutions and local authorities prepared to organize this important event - said Dreosto - It is a unique opportunity that will positively mark the future of the two cities ".
