House green light for Bergamo and Brescia to be Italian Capitals of Culture in 2023

An amendment by the 5 Star Movement to the relaunch decree (which is going through the process to be converted into law: the deadline is July 18) was approved in the evening by the Chamber of Deputies, establishing the nomination of Bergamo and Brescia as Italian Capitals of Culture in 2023. All that is now missing is the green light from the Senate, after which the nomination will be final. The amendment is meant to be a symbolic acknowledgement of the difficulties the two cities have gone through in the most intense weeks of the Covid-19 outbreak: in mid-May, the mayors of the two cities, Giorgio Gori and Emilio Del Bono, had already announced that they would submit a joint candidacy, and now the amendment thus sanctions the first important step.

“This is great news for Bergamo, which together with the extraordinary contribution for municipalities and the attribution to Bergamo (along with Brescia) of the title of Italian Capital of Culture 2023, testifies to the closeness of the government and parliament to our territory,” comments Deputy Minister of Economy Antonio Misiani.

“We are happy and honored for this first decision,” says Giorgio Gori, mayor of Bergamo. “The decision to anticipate the recognition of Bergamo and Brescia as Italian Capitals of Culture 2023 took us by surprise but fills us with pride. In fact, we read in it the sharing of the challenge that our two cities intended to launch together through the joint candidacy: joining forces to revive through culture an area hit like no other by the epidemic, making culture the banner of the rebirth of our cities.”

“If all goes well (and it will) within the next week the amendment that sanctions that 2023 will be the year of Brescia and Bergamo will become law,” says instead Emilio Del Bono, mayor of Brescia. “Brescia capital of culture, a dream and a work cultivated before the Coronavirus scourge. But now it has even more meaning and sense. It will be an opportunity to strengthen and enhance our peculiarities, the beauty of our monuments, the quality of our services, the liveliness of our cultural network, and to refine even more the capacity of reception. We will work, together with Bergamo, to offer the best. Brescia is an extraordinary city and will also win this challenge.”

“It is a small, rightful recognition towards those realities of our country that more than others have suffered the violence of contagion and the pain of loss caused by Covid-19,” says Vito Crimi, leader of the 5 Star Movement. “Communities of citizens, these, who have always been dedicated to work and committed to improving our society, and who have responded to the most serious postwar health crisis and emergency with the highest sense of responsibility, strength and solidarity. Today we must do everything in our power to help these hard-hit territories restart, promoting not only their socio-economic revitalization but also enhancing their beauty and cultural heritage.”

House green light for Bergamo and Brescia to be Italian Capitals of Culture in 2023

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