Pordenone candidate for Capital of Culture: the presentation

Pordenone’s candidacy as Capital of Culture.

It’s official: Pordenone is candidate for Capital of Culture 2027. The candidacy was presented, with the support of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, right at the former Convent of San Francesco, in the historic heart of Pordenone, which tit exudes culture through the frescoes peeking out from the walls of the fifteenth-century building.

It is this goal, still never achieved by a city in the North East, that Pordenone aspires to, responding to the new tender (Decree no. 375/2024) promoted by the Ministry of Culture, to which the mayor has sent the Expression of Interest to participate in the selection.

An objective that we want to achieve together with the whole community and which, in reality, represents a starting point. Indeed Pordenonand interprets this candidacy as an opportunity to experiment with an idea of ​​the future that manages to lay the foundations for a ten-year journey in which culture is the driving force for global, tourist, economic and social growth. To do this, the cultural organizations of our territory, the citizens, as well as a broad system of local stakeholders, who will be called to collaborate in a synergistic manner.

Present at the evening were the council and municipal councilors of Pordenone, mayors of municipalities belonging to the former province, regional authorities, the prefect Manno, the police commissioner Solimene, the minister for relations with parliament, bishop Pellegrini, representatives universities of Udine, Trieste and Pordenone, trade associations and numerous cultural and social associations in the area.

The presentation, moderated by Tg2 journalist Maria Leitner, was attended by the FVG Region, which supported the Pordenone’s candidacy underlining its value for the entire regional territory and the municipal administrationwho explained where the idea for this candidacy was born, highlighting its strategic and multifaceted importance which enhances the past but looks to the future, offering Pordenone the opportunity to observe oneself and understand what can be improved. Also present were the two agencies involved by the Municipality of Pordenone in this process: Ilaria Morganti of Itinerari Paralleli, showed in concrete terms what the Dossier that will be presented to the Ministry and what the next events in the area will be, and Paolo Pascolo of the communication agency I Mille, presented the video with the official logo of the candidacy, characterized by a three-dimensional monogram whose meaning he explained. The interventions were narrated and projected in real time through the graphic facilitation of Sara Pavan of PAFF!, one visual synthesis of each exposition capable of fixing and making the concepts exposed more accessible.

The video created for the occasion presents Pordenone as the city you don’t expect, which has so much to discover and which two dimensions are not enough to describe. A city with a strong and dynamic character, with a thousand colors that shine through from the frescoes of its main street. A city that invites everyone not to stop at the surface but to go deeper and explore, because CULTURE is DISCOVERY. One effective slogan that briefly tells the city’s identitywhich can be described by 9 simple nouns: openness, inclusiveness, tranquility, dynamism, maturity, enterprise, elegance, culture and surprise.

IAL Fvg, with its Centro Turistico Alberghiero of Aviano, a high-level training school, was also present at the evening. The second classes of the Course for bar and cooking class waitresses, accompanied by the maître Fabio Pezzella, the barlady Annalisa Zuin and the chef Ambra De Carohave prepared refreshments with a structured menu based on local and seasonal products.

The next steps.

And now? What are the steps following the candidacy for Pordenone? By 12 December 2024, the Jury composed of 7 independent experts from clear reputation in the sector of culture, arts, territorial and tourist development, will select a maximum of 10 finalist projects, whose promoters will be summoned to Rome by 12 March 2025 for a public hearing to present and explore their application dossier. By March 28, 2025, the The jury will recommend the most suitable candidacy to the Minister of Culture to be awarded the title of Italian Capital of Culture for the year 2027.

Therefore in the city, once the process of listening to the territory by the Itinerari Paralleli agency has concluded, some workshops with the aim of bringing out the connections that already exist between local stakeholders. Then a public moment will take place to launch the co-planning phase, for which the information will be made public guidelines for the creation and presentation of projects to be proposed for the year 2027.