Palma di Montechiaro presents its candidacy for Italian Capital of Culture 2022

Last September 21, the city of Palma di Montechiaro (Agrigento) presented the reasons for its candidacy as Italian Capital of Culture 2022, with a meeting divided into five sessions at the Palazzo degli Scolopi, in the presence of the working group also responsible for the drafting of the candidacy dossier, with the scientific committee identified by themunicipal administration, and composed of Alessandro Bollo (chairman), Damiano Avanzato, Shobha Battaglia, Michele Benfari, Giuseppe Castellana, Pino Cuttaia, Father Andrea Dall’Asta, Sergio D’Elia, Maria Antonietta Ferraloro, Paola Galuffo, Gianni Giardina, Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi, Daniel Lumera, Francesco Mannino, Don Gaetano Montana, Olimpia Niglio, Carlo Roccafiorita, Florinda Saieva, Roberto Sciarratta, Marilena Vaccaro.

The candidacy dossier rests on five pillars: forgiveness, future, cultural heritage, regeneration, welcome/attractiveness. Forgiveness to recognize the need to process Sicily’s recent past as an indispensable act to build a different future: forgiveness, according to the organizers, is not an absolutory stroke nor a justification of the crimes of the Mafia, but a choral act that welcomes the recognition of the gravity of the acts committed by those who committed them, taking this gravity as a point of no return to which to look in order to build awareness of what must be rejected and fought, and on the other hand of what alternatives can be built with the tools of legality.

Thefuture, on the other hand, is the ground on which visions, intentions and good intentions can demonstrate their concreteness and sustainability; it is the space in which today’s children and young people will increasingly be the protagonists, who will gradually inhabit it with their lives, their needs and their choices: the idea is to hand over the future to those children and young people, so that they will be less and less recipients of the choices of today’s adults, and more and more active protagonists.

Cultural heritage because the city of Palma is rich in it, from its coast to its churches and monasteries, from its hills to its noble palaces: a heritage that can certainly entail a significant interest for those who intend to visit the Agrigento territories, but above all for the local community, both strictly from Palma and the surrounding area. The candidacy therefore intends to encourage the use of the heritage so that it can be made available to travelers, connoisseurs, schoolchildren, but also (and above all) to the community of reference, so that it can decide, in full implementation of Article 2 of the Faro Convention, what value to attribute to it and how to take care of it according to its own needs, aspirations and aspirations for the future.

Regeneration, on the other hand, will come through the PalmArt project, which is included in the dossier: it is an ambitious program for the regeneration of a degraded and dilapidated neighborhood, which will be accompanied by processes of reactivation of social and economic practices that can make sense of the operations on the properties. Important here will be the collaboration with Farm Cultural Park in Favara and Periferica in Mazzara del Vallo, internationally emblematic cases of regeneration starting with culture and which will provide valuable help to Palma in terms of expertise and planning.

Finally, welcome and attractiveness because Palma has been and is a city of emigration and immigration. A community that remembers and recognizes the phenomenon of abandonment out of necessity, of travel out of need, also knows how to be understanding and welcoming of those who are still forced to be protagonists, consequently Palma welcoming city wants to be this but also more: the idea is to activate forms of incentive for local residency, for the return of those who have emigrated and for healthy and fruitful cohabitation and professional collaboration with those who may consider Palma di Montechiaro to be the place of choice for their life projects, in tune with the Palma community.

“For Palma di Montechiaro,” comments Mayor Stefano Castellino, “to be recognized as the Italian Capital of Culture is fundamental; on the one hand, it would be a just recognition for a young administration that has centered its governmental action since taking office almost three years ago on the culture of doing good, the culture of forgiveness and the culture of being and being there. On the other hand, it is certain that, the eventual recognition, will require from the entity and its community of reference a total involvement and a relevant employment of human, economic and professional resources, which will determine, from time to time, a path of civil and community growth, tangible already for some time: the people of Palma are enthusiastic, hopeful, compact, active. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the killing of Judge Livatino, the candidacy dossier was presented in the presence of the city and distinguished guests: the sky of Palma di Montechiaro was torn open and Palma, from the Palazzo degli Scolopi.”

“The candidacy of Palma di Montechiaro,” says the president of the scientific committee Alessandro Bollo, “represents something unprecedented in the panorama of Italian cities because of the decision to address a radical as well as inescapable process of social and urban regeneration by putting at the center the theme of Forgiveness and the idea of a future to be built together with the new generations. A vision of city and community that wants to get involved, to bet by investing in culture and young people. A bet that, if won, can teach a lot not only to Sicily, but to the whole of Italy.”

Pictured: Palma di Montechiaro, mother church

Palma di Montechiaro presents its candidacy for Italian Capital of Culture 2022

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