hto competed and beat the other 9 finalists thanks to its project focused on the integration of peoples. And so, after Pesaro, it will be up to Agrigento to be the Italian Capital of Culture for 2025.
Agrigento Capital of Culture for 2025
There spectacular Sicilian city of the Valley of the Temples passed Aosta, Assisi, Asti, Bagnoregio (Viterbo), Monte Sant’Angelo (Foggia), Orvieto, Pescina (L’Aquila), Roccasecca (Frosinone) and Spoleto, «not for the beauty of the city, but for the project» as stated by the president of the commission, Davide Maria Desario.
The splendid Valley of the Temples is not the only beauty of Agrigento (Getty)
It is not the beauty that wins but the project
That of Agrigento, Davide Maria Desario continues, «takes center stage in its dossier the relationship between the individual, the neighbor and nature, involving the island of Lampedusa and the municipalities of the province and placing the theme of hospitality and mobility as the fulcrum. The rich cultural heritage of the area is the flywheel with which the varied cultural offer is enhanced proposed with a view to innovation, promotion and, consequently, subsequent socio-economic development, which finds inspiration in the most modern technological concepts. The active involvement of the younger generations will be able to promote culture as a cornerstone of individual and community growth”.
Having said this, however, adds Desario «all 10 cities have shown organizational capacity and the seriousness of not hiding their fragility which have been transformed into strengths. We have seen great professionalism, the quality of the projects has risen. The initiative is growing more and more and the other nine must be proud to have arrived among the finalists. Projects should not be lost but evaluated in the most appropriate way».
The mayor: “All of Italy has won”
The mayor Franco Miccichè was very satisfied with the appointment who wanted to underline how «it was not Agrigento or Sicily that won, but all of Italy».
The city, underlines the mayor, “deserved this victory. We have been working on our dossier for two years which is an ambitious, courageous, open project which not only speaks of culture but also relationship between the Mediterranean peoples, talks about integration, talks about dialogue between different ethnic groups».
Agrigento, not only the Valley of the Temples
Miccichè also recalled «in our province there is not only the Valley of the Temples but there are forty archaeological sites. We created the Costa del Mito that goes from Selinunte to Gela, therefore well beyond our own province including also the neighboring ones. And then, we are the homeland of Luigi Pirandello as well as Leonardo Sciascia and Andrea Camilleri: there is so much material to work with…».
Now the city, thanks to the prize of one million euros which, for a year, will essentially be the fuel for improve the cultural development of the city.
The funds will serve to showcase their original characteristics and the factors that determine their cultural development, intended as a growth engine for the entire community.
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