Two cities that were once one, and which are now in two different countries, will share honors as European Capital of Culture for 2025.
Gorizia, Italy and Nova Gorica in Slovenia, submitted a joint application for the honor which will include an ambitious schedule of over 600 events—including music, dance, art, theatre, cinema, sport, fashion, ecology and cuisine—all keyed the the theme of “borderless.”
The separation began in 1947 when the town was split between Italy and Slovenia and a metal barrier topped with barbed wire separated the two, long before Berlin’s more famous wall, with the old town on the Italian side and ‘New Gorica’ growing on the other.
Since the 1990s, the two towns have worked together and the national border, which runs through the town’s main square, is essentially invisible aside from markers embedded in the paving of the Piazza della Transalpina.
Very interesting!