The mayors of Nova Gorica Samo Turel (left) and Gorizia Rodolfo Ziberna. Above, Piazza della Transalpina remitted.
Gorizia-Nova Gorica Capital of European Culture 2025: history
To truly grasp the extraordinary meaning of the designation of Gorizia and Nova Gorica to the capital of European culture 2025, the journey can start from Rafut passone of the points of passage between Italy and Slovenia after the division of the territory of 1947. Here the historical chapter of An area of Europe in which the twentieth century found a dramatic and impressive concentration.
Still at the beginning of the twentieth century, the population spoke Italian, Slovenian, German, Friulian and many also knew the Hebrew: “It was sweet to live in that atmosphere of tolerance, where every citizen without being aware of it was educated to be supernational”, he said The writer Stefan Zweig. Then the national motions arrived, the First World War with the annexation of Gorizia to Italy, the advent of fascism that persecuted the Slovenians, prohibited its language, brutally eliminated any form of dissent. On May 1, 1945, the Second World War is now over, Tito and his army suddenly raided the city taking possession with the aim of clinging it to Yugoslavia: 42 days of terrible vendetties began, the sinkholes, deportations, until The allied military government does not take the situation in hand.
Two years of suspension followed, then, In 1947, the French division proposal of the territory was adopted: Gorizia Città went to Italy, her campaign to Yugoslavia. Center and countryside were unnaturally broken, the soldiers traced – literally, images and testimonies document him – a white line often separating houses and farms, but above all families and people who had lived together until then, a 1.80 -high dividing network was erected meters manned by guards and dogs …
Since the Yugoslav part had been deprived of a center and its services, Tito entrusted Edvard Ravnikar to build a city Which, following the urban conception of the great Le Corbusier, should have given birth to a garden city, modern, with the neighborhoods divided according to the functions: in short, a model city to exhibit to the enemies just a few kilometers away. Young volunteers from all Yugoslavia will be made to build (even if financial resources partially limited the original project) what today is Nova Gorica.
Up to the 1955 Udine agreements, crossing the border was almost impossible for the vast majority of the population, then “passports” were released. And here we return to the Rafut pass where today, in the Italian part, The Financiers’ House has become a small but precious Museum of the Passer-Papustnicain which the facts of 1947 are remembered in a multimedia room through a polyphonic story and in another the period is reconstructed from the post -war period to date through a collection of symbolic objects of life on the border. A few tens of meters, in Slovenia, the accommodation of the Yugoslave guards has turned into an equally interesting museum of smuggling: The Italians sought “beyond” meat, grappa and quality eggs at affordable prices, while the Slovenians sought “beyond” basic necessities, medicines, coffee, spices that were scarce in their parts.
The first turning point took place in 2004: Slovenia (which since 1991 had been proclaimed independent of Yugoslavia) entered the European Union: The border had fallen, that network that had divided houses, families, cultures and hearts was finally removed. “Since then, relationships are friendly, some joint projects have been promoted, but the ability to design jointly and enhance the peculiar cultural identity and tourist potential of these border places has been lacking, in short, to become a real transnfrontier city” , says Alessandro Cattunarhistorian, curator of the Museum of the Passessatnica, author of History of a white line (Errante Bottega), an indispensable volume for those who want to know the past of these lands. “For example, it was not thought of teaching Slovenian in Italian schools and vice versa, there are no cross-border information bodies … Today, with the designation of Gorizia-Nova Gorica to the capital of European culture, the dream born in 2004 is finally made”.
The voices of the mayors of the two cities
“The candidacy of Gorizia-Nova Gorica has disfigured the competition of other cities, much larger and more famous, because it has an immense ethical and symbolic value: a border bloody by the tragedies of the twentieth century is proposed as a unique reality, which thinks and designs together” , says The mayor of Gorizia Rodolfo Ziberna. «We do not hide the story and its tragedies, on the contrary it is necessary to tell it, but we cannot remain prisoners of the past. To overcome it, We must recognize your mistakes and say: “We have made our Slovenian friends suffer”. We must recognize the pain of the other ».
“Let’s start with what does not work to try to improve it,” echoes him The mayor of Nova Gorica Samo Turel. «The message that comes from our cities and more current today than 8 years ago, when the plan to apply was born: in a historical phase in which the conflicts are exploding and new walls are raised, we testify that the only way is to collaborate, Share, design together, listen to the other. We can become a laboratory for Europe and the whole world ».
But the adventure of European capital of culture has no historical and symbolic values. The two first citizens agree that it is a great economic opportunity: «This is a territory where over the same day you can ski in the morning and in the afternoon diving into the sea, it is a strategic area from a logistical point of view to cross between the Slavic, Germanic and Latin world », underlines Turel. The demolition of the border in 2004, together with new hopes, also brought difficulties, Because the economy had been structured until then as a border economy. In the center of Gorizia, refurbished for the occasion, several closed shops are noted. “Our geopolitical marginality can now become a great opportunity, because we offer something unique, being a cross -border territory”, Ziberna says. 2025 is perceived not as a goal, but as the beginning of a new path, to be taken together.
Piazza della Transalpina from a symbol of division to the city living room
Here then is the birth of many structures that will host the dense calendar of events of these months, but above all they will remain as cultural and tourist centers, engines of the new economy. The most significant case is that of Epic, the new museum hosted in another area with a strong symbolic value, that of Transalpine squarethe only square in the world – up to a time not too far – divided between two states, where the dividing gate, in front of the palace of the railway station desired by the Habsburgs, was removed in 2004. This square and the attached green area they will transform into Citizen living room of the inhabitants of Gorizia and Nova Gorica; and Epic, located in a former warehouse in the railway station, will become a place of historical reflection full of different narratives and the seat of cultural events.
Common projects
2025 as a new beginning, therefore, however, we do not start from scratch, because some realities plan and have already operated for some time in full harmony, climbing over the border in the name of the well -being of people and with the aim of responding to concrete needs, identical here and beyond the famous white line traced in 1947. He says Romina Kocina, director of Gect Go, a public body founded by the Municipalities of Gorizia, Nova Gorica and Šempiter-Vrtojba in 2011: «In recent years we have given life in particular to two transnfrontier realities. The first is the cycling-pedestrian path along the Isonzo river, disputed and theater of bloody battles, now crossed by wonderful catwalks. Five years of work and an allocation of 5 million euros. The second is in the health sector, thanks to which it was started A collaboration between the hospitals of Gorizia and Nova Gorica and ŠempiTer-Vrtojba for the development of complementary services; And then the woman’s house, a service of services and advice for motherhood and teenagers. The memory of the wrongs suffered causes conflict. On the contrary, these activities represent a concrete way of rewriting history, accepting it and promoting dialogue. “Explains Romina, Slovenian mother and Goriziano dad (” The paternal grandmother did not want to go to the wedding! “). «We operate throughout the transnfrontalle area, because we feel transnfrontier and Europeans here. The border is not an obstacle for new generations, linguistic differences are overcome through the use of English ».
The cultural program of 2025
Here Gorizia-Nova Gorica A seed of the future is thrown that can write a new page of history not only for this territory, but for the whole of Europe. “The many initiatives of the program of events have already had the merit of activating connections and comparisons between the two cities, enhancing a cooperation path that does not be born today”, observes Stojan Pelko, head of the event program. «We must have the courage to move together, without hiding the problems. Gorizia-Nova Gorica place the value of culture at the center, both as a model of a development that must not necessarily be focused on industry, and as a dialogue and friendship engine that knows how to overcome the wounds of history “.
It’s time to go, think, be reborn, develop without borders.
