Nova Gorica and Gorizia wrap up first cross-border European Capital of Culture

SLOVENIA, December 10 - The event, which was attended by several hundred visitors, rounded off nearly a year of joint efforts to promote culture and break down borders in people's minds.

Nova Gorica and Gorizia, the cities located on the opposite sides of the Slovenian-Italian border, hander over the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) title to Slovakia's Trenčin, while the German city of Chemnitz handed over the baton to Finland's Oulu.

Not the end, but rather a new beginning

"With this we conclude a wonderful year that has brought so much not only to Nova Gorica and Gorizia but to the entire region. We've achieved the goals we set, including finally connecting the two cities," Nova Gorica Mayor Samo Turel told the ceremony on 5 December.

His counterpart from Gorizia Rodolfo Ziberna said that the closing event "does not mark an end, rather a new beginning, with values of friendship, cooperation, respect and enthusiasm that should continue to live on in future European Capitals of Culture".

The final week of the Nova Gorica and Gorizia ECoC project began when the two cities switched on their Christmas lights on 29 November and culminated in the closing ceremony, which was also addressed by state secretaries from the Slovenian and Italian culture ministries, Marko Rusjan and Gianmarco Mazzi.

Parades, DJ party and cooperation agreement

Before the speeches, two Light Parades featuring brass bands, majorettes and dancers set off from each side of the border marching towards Europe Square, with light symbolically connecting the cities and underscoring the European Capital of Culture's message that culture transcends borders.

The closing event wrapped up with a Borderless Party, featuring German DJ Fritz Kalkbrenner, Slovenian DJ Nick Nicce, Italian act Riki G and Unum Sound, and Slovak group Fallgrapp.

Earlier in the day, the mayors of Nova Gorica and Gorizia signed an agreement with the mayor of Chemnitz, Sven Schulze, to commit to further cooperation between the three cities and celebrate in a special way their joining the family of European Capitals of Culture, an EU project that will mark its 40th anniversary next year.

The end of the Nova Gorica-Gorizia European Capital of Culture was marked in Brussels too as the Slovenian embassy there and the Italian Cultural Institute in Brussels held a concert showcasing Slovenian and Italian musicians.

Legacy of Nova Gorica-Gorizia European Capital of Culture

The European Capital of Culture in Nova Gorica and Gorizia, which was launched on 8 February, Slovenia's Culture Day, has been hailed as a major success both at home and abroad, and by EU institutions.

"This year has exceeded all our expectations," Mija Lorbek, director of the GO! 2025 Institute, the project's main Slovenian organiser, told the press before the closing ceremony.

"It was an opportunity to reimagine our cities and place them on the European map. We succeeded to a great extent and beyond, across borders, as the story of two small border towns was heard around the world."

The GO! 2025 Institute, which will remain active until the end of 2026, has drafted a strategy to promote cooperation with other European Capitals of Culture in the future.

The project has injected fresh momentum into the Goriška region on both sides of the border, not only through art and culture but also by drawing media attention, boosting tourism and, above all, strengthening cross-border cooperation.

In Slovenia alone, more than €216 million was invested in the project, according to the newspaper Dnevnik. Nova Gorica and Gorizia secured major infrastructure investments, including new venues such as the EPICentre in Nova Gorica, while the railway station in Nova Gorica, a Habsburg-era landmark, has been renovated.

Together they staged more than 1,600 events, 870 of them part of the official programme, which attracted over 1.5 million visitors. Tourism in the region surged, with preliminary figures indicating a 33% increase. The highest increase in visitor numbers was recorded in July, when the number was 42% higher than in the same month in 2024.

Source: sloveniatimes.com