Maratea continues the tour for the presentation of the candidacy for Italian Capital of Culture in 2026. Milano welcomes the city with open arms.

Hmade a stop at Milano, at the Triennale, on 5 February 2024, the Tour organized by Municipality of Maratea and the Territorial Promotion Agency of Basilicata to present the candidacy of the Lucanian municipality as Italian Capital of Culture 2026.

Milano welcomed Maratea's candidacy with open arms, as the Statue of Christ the Redeemer of Maratea does with its citizens and its land, and the words used by the Milanese authorities present were of strength and hope for the aforementioned victory.

It is a collective and widespread candidacy, made up of alliances, not only in the Lucanian territory, that of Maratea as Italian Capital of Culture 2026. Maratea, destination 2026: through the words of the Councilor for Budget and Real Estate of the Municipality of Milano, Emmanuel Conte.

“The South and the North touching each other is a political and national theme that emerges from Maratea's candidacy. Let's go towards 2026 with the Olympics Milano-Cortina, important international event. It would be nice to associate the "mountain/north" concept with the "south/sea" concept, having Maratea Italian Capital of Culture in the same year".

Councilor Conte also has underlined the traits that the two cities have in common and the desire to create synergies and collaborations.

"Milano - Conte continued – has always welcomed different cultures, different peoples: it is part of its history, but it is also part of the history of Maratea which has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures that have integrated. I hope for the success of this collective candidacy which includes numerous projects that can leave an important historical and economic impact, linked to increasingly sustainable and green tourism that places the Mediterranean, the cradle of civilization, at the centre."

Reflections shared by the Mayor of Maratea, Daniele Stoppelli. “Maratea is a candidate for Italian Capital of Culture ed it is among the 10 finalist cities precisely because of its strong history, a 35-century history that sees it as the gateway to the Mediterranean. A city that has been able to demonstrate to everyone that it is welcoming and that wants to demonstrate that history, its past, is nothing other than the tool for living the present well and for planning a future made up of great cultural exchanges. A future where, with the Olympics being held in Milano Cortina in 2026, the North meets Europe and Maratea meets the Mediterranean".

All this can be possible thanks to important projects which, in a logic of widespread alliances, also see the contribution of Milanese and Lombardy realities in the candidacy as illustrated by Marco Minoja, Director of the Civic Schools Foundation of the Municipality of Milano and Riccardo Balbo, Academic Director of the European Design Institute (IED) and confirmed by Stefano Rolando, President of the Maratea 2026 Committee and President of the Francesco Saverio Nitti Foundation.

Some suggestions to Maratea came from those who have just left behind a year as the Italian Capital of Culture, namely Bergamo and Brescia.

"The Italian Capital of Culture in Bergamo and Brescia was a great opportunity for our Foundation from the point of view of the impacts that a large event of this type can have on the city"Said Stefano Karadjov, Director of the Brescia Museums Foundation who added: “To achieve complete success, some preconditions were necessary, which I would like to suggest to Maratea, starting from the preventive strengthening of the cultural institutions that already operate in the area".

According to Karadjov “for the Capital of Culture to not be an ephemeral event, but to transmit a legacy for the community, it needs strong operators, and must focus on already active institutions and strengthen them rather than identifying new subjects”. “One of the great goals – he continued – it was the participatory process that led to the definition of the program. A choral program which saw the involvement not only of cultural foundations, but also of associations, in numerous discussions. Finally, it is on the values ​​of the material and immaterial cultural heritage of a territory, on identity projects, rather than on initiatives that come from outside, that we need to leverage to have a national and international resonance and to guarantee lasting positive impacts".

And the Lucanian institutions are working precisely to address the impacts and legacy on the territory.

“Maratea's candidacy as Italian Capital of Culture 2026 can represent a development lever in which not only institutional entities, but also economic and social entities participate" stated Cosimo Latronico, Councilor for the Environment, Territory and Energy of the Basilicata Region. "These days here at Milano, on the occasion of the International Tourism Exchange, we want to reiterate how our cultural and environmental resources, but also the ability of communities to take on development responsibilities, can be an opportunity to implement those cohesion policies that are eagerly awaited in our territories" .

Antonio Nicoletti, APT Director of the Basilicata Region, is also convinced of this. "Maratea's alliance with Milano-Cortina may seem ambitious, but if accompanied by passion and competence it can be rewarded. We can say this as Lucanians after having lived the experience of Matera European Capital of Culture 2019. Matera has established itself in Europe. Maratea not only virtually takes up the baton, because it is a city that has been able to enhance its landscape, archaeological and architectural heritage and, thanks to the candidacy programme, project itself towards the future".

They also provided their contribution on Maratea 2026: Capital of communities Tommaso Ruggieri, President of Friends of Basilicata in Lombardy, Ermanno Tritto, Head of Institutional Relations Sogemi Spa and Giuseppe Lupo, university professor and writer of Lucanian origins, former finalist of the Strega Prize.

The candidacy also serves to bring back, at least with their hearts, to their homeland, those million people who for various reasons have left Basilicata and find themselves living in other parts of the world. From them, through hundreds of messages, Maratea draws fundamental support, which allows it to arrive at the audition on March 5th with a different spirit, with the desire to win also and above all for those who cannot enjoy the beauty of Lucania first hand .

The journey through Italy of Maratea, the Pearl of the Tyrrhenian Sea, among the ten finalist cities in the candidacy for Italian Capital of Culture 2026, promoted by the Municipality of Maratea and the Territorial Promotion Agency of Basilicata, continues in Rome, Monday 19 February and will end in Potenza on Thursday 29 February awaiting thehearing on March 5 at the Ministry of Culture.

This candidacy leads to a reflection of the territory on itself and this, whatever the outcome, must be taken as a victory and an immense opportunity to learn about the strengths but also the critical points, on which we can work to improve the city of Maratea.