Italian Capital of Culture 2024: Pesaro

Last May 2, in Rome, the Ministry of Culture presented the "Italian Capital of Contemporary Art", an initiative which joins the "Italian Capital of Books" and the "Italian Capital of Culture", a title held this year from Pesaro.

Specifically, the Italian Capital of Culture is an initiative established in 2014 by the then Minister for Cultural Heritage and Activities Dario Franceschini. The aim of the project is to develop the cultural potential of a city through the valorisation of cultural and landscape assets and the improvement of services aimed at tourists. The title lasts one year and involves public funding of one million euros.

Starting from 2015, the selected cities competing for the title of Italian capital of culture will participate in a competition announced by the Ministry of Culture. The winner is chosen by a commission of seven experts appointed by the ministry itself.

The first cities to win the title were Cagliari, Lecce, Perugia, Ravenna and Siena, i.e. the cities that had also participated in the call for the European Capital of Culture, another initiative to support cultural promotion.

In the following years, Mantua, Pistoia, Palermo, Procida, Bergamo and Brescia were elected. In 2019, no city was designated, while in 2021, due to COVID-19, the title was extended by one year. In the meantime, the capital cities of 2025 and 2026 have already been chosen: Agrigento and L'Aquila.

Proclaimed Italian Capital of Culture on 16 March 2022, beating, among others, Ascoli Piceno, Syracuse, the union of the Paestum-Alto Cilento and Viareggio municipalities, Pesaro is located north of the Marche, overlooks the Adriatic Sea and is nestled between two hills: San Bartolo and Ardizio. Its foundation is due to the Romans, as evidenced by the historic centre, which has the typical cross structure divided between Cardo and Decumanus. It is known as "the City of Music", since the famous composer Gioachino Rossini was born here. By virtue of this, in 2017 UNESCO awarded it the recognition of Creative City for music.

The reasons that led to the proclamation of Pesaro as the Italian Capital of Culture lie in a cultural project that encourages citizen participation in order to enhance a very rich territory from a historical and environmental point of view. At its core, there is the idea of ​​"a widespread, inclusive culture in dialogue with the environment", as demonstrated by "VolontarixPesaro24", a tool for creating a new form of cultural volunteering.

And speaking of inclusion, the mayor of Pesaro, Matteo Ricci, dedicated the victory to the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, a city with which the municipality is twinned, sealing a symbolic gesture aimed at confirming how much culture unites and can also be a form of union and peace.

Visceglia carefully follows all events of cultural interest that support tourism and encourage the improvement of the offer.