The President of the Republic inaugurates the 366 days of the Italian Capital of Culture; 8 thousand at the Vitrifrigo Arena
The extraordinary year of the Italian Capital of Culture of Pesaro begins 2024. This morning the inaugural ceremony, a large popular festival in the city, in the presence of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, who filled the Vitrifrigo Arena like a rock star. Eight thousand present, between people from Pesaro and “temporary citizens”, two-thousand students from 15 institutes in the province, circa three hundred VolontarX, beyond two-hundred accredited journalists from Italy and abroad. A Live tv on Rai3 and RaiNews24 which broadcast the images of Pesaro 2024 in thousands of homes around the world. Then the band of the province, with 120 representatives, who entertained the audience before the official start.
The morning, conducted by Paolo Bonolis, it opened and closed with the Olimpia Orchestra of Pesaro, all-female training, born in 2018 from an idea by Roberta Pandolfi and Francesca Perrotta, with the Italian anthem, the European anthem, and the Overture by G. Rossini The Thieving Magpie. Then the suggestive and intense contribution of Mariangela Gualtieri, one of the most sensitive and appreciated poets on the contemporary scene, who recited his on the stage of the Vitrifrigo Arena “Urban and planetary exhortation”, powerful and luminous reflection on the present and future. And the video performance with the audience: “The Human Cell ATLAS ” edited by Ouchhh in collaboration with CERN in Geneva. Born to create an artistic self-portrait of humanity with artificial intelligence and big data, the project brought together an international community of biologists, clinicians, technologists, physicists, computational scientists, software engineers and mathematicians. This community of scientists with diverse expertise shared the common goal of creating a comprehensive reference map of all human cells as a basis for understanding human health and for diagnosis, disease monitoring and treatment. An example of development of the theme of the Pesaro dossier 2024, the nature of culture, relationship between art, nature and technology.
THE INTERVENTIONS
The speech of the mayor of Pesaro Matteo Ricci: “A historic day for Pesaro and the Marche. The 8 thousand people present in the stands of the Vitrifrigo Arena are proof that everyone wants to be part of this great challenge and local pride. President Mattarella, this is a great tribute to her, in his presence here. AND a beacon and a symbol of national unity.
The Italian Capital of Culture was born ten years ago, when we proposed to the people of Pesaro a pact to get out of the serious economic crisis that had hit our territory, through a different development model, focused on manufacturing, but also on beauty, culture and tourism. If we are here today it is because ten years ago we shook hands and carried forward this pact with determination. In 2024 we will talk about the nature of culture, because we live in an era in which we must keep the cultural challenge linked to that of sustainability to save the planet. We will tell it through our peculiarities, our projects, our landscape, but also through the technological challenge of artificial intelligence which opens up great opportunities. In 2024 we will relaunch the culture of peace. War is all around us, and we cannot resign ourselves to it. This is why we have chosen a gingko biloba leaf as the symbol of the Italian Capital of Culture (tree survived the Hiroshima bomb), and dedicated the victory in Kharkiv, like us UNESCO Creative City of Music, which is under Russian bombs. To Kharkiv we add the city of Rafah (Gaza Strip) twinned with Pesaro, where atrocious things are happening.
We will enhance European culture: Why, as President Mattarella teaches us, Europe is a peace project, born after centuries in which European peoples waged war on each other. We will not be sovereigns and protagonists of the world, if Europe does not make its way. Beauty can be a driver of development for Europe and the world.
In 2024 we will tell the culture of our land, which is a culture of work and doing, of fatigue, of resourcefulness, of the genius of our entrepreneurs, of solidarity, of volunteering. We will do all this with the mayors of the province of Pesaro and Urbino and with the mayors of the cities that, like us, they decided to invest in beauty by making themselves available to the country to make it more competitive. We have a national challenge before us, and in Pesaro we will illustrate the beauty of the Italian province. For a year we will have the spotlight on, Let's show our beauty, let's change the future of our land for the new generations, let's go and demonstrate that we are one of the best provinces and regions in the country. Long live Pesaro2024, long live Italy".
The president of the Marche Region Francesco Acquaroli: “Starting again from the link between man and nature, today as it has happened throughout history, the market, with Pesaro leading the way, they rediscover and relaunch their value, which must represent a new lever for the people of the Marche and a further incentive for visitors to get to know and fall in love with our land. All the Marches therefore - he added - can recognize themselves in this important certification for which I would like to thank the municipal administration, the entire province and all the workers and volunteers. The Region is at your side and supports you in this journey, with the certainty that it will be an extraordinary year for Pesaro and for all of the Marche.
The deputy mayor and councilor for Beauty Daniele Vimini: “Here we are, here we are. We are proudly here, Mr President, of having gathered an entire city community around you today, provincial and regional to show you our affection and our pride in being called to represent the Capital for a year, a contemporary and new idea of culture in Italy, already the cradle of millenary cultures. The pride of the hundreds of volunteers, many in service already today, which will be the most authentic image of hospitality and efficiency and in whose enthusiasm we must all be able to reflect ourselves.
The pride and happiness of thousands of cultural workers today, that we saw on the ground together with the rest of the country in the tragic months of the pandemic, the months in which - thinking of them - the theme of our candidacy took shape. Going to the 'Nature of culture' so as not to be satisfied with the artistic heritage and landscape - although essential - and with the hackneyed rhetoric of culture as the nation's oil. Going to the 'Nature of culture' to always combine heritage with true sustainability and true technical and technological wisdom, looking for what isn't there yet. Pesaro arrives, Mr. Minister, to the appointment of Italian Capital of Culture thanks to a path of years of planning and growth of its material and immaterial cultural infrastructures. The path of awareness, than from the legacy of Rossini who left all his assets in Pesaro so that young people could learn the art of music, over the years it has generated one of the most internationally recognized conservatories, the careful management of the Rossini Foundation and an opera festival (Rossini Opera Festival, ndr) among the most important in the world, up to the fundamental recognition for us of UNESCO Creative City of Music, global network within which we now play a leading role 6 years from designation. The museum network has been considerably enriched and diversified to the point of gathering in a real museum of the widespread city its entire history, from the Piceno civilisation, to the Roman splendor of Pisaurum Felix to the Oliveriano Museum and the mosaics of the Cathedral, to the wonder of Giovanni Bellini's altarpiece today in Palazzo Mosca, to the century of the Enlightenment which made this city a crossroads of intellectuals whose imprint we still benefit from, to the twentieth century, up to the Pescheria Visual Arts Center, main contemporary hub in the Adriatic area, also confirmed by the presence in the area of numerous artists of recognized international value, some of them even in this 2024 called to develop community projects in neighborhoods, true cells of program construction”.
The senator's letter Liliana Segre: “Mr. Mayor of Pesaro, dear Matteo, I would like to reach you and the entire Pesaro community with the warmest thoughts and best wishes for a year, the 2024, full of opportunities for the City, from today Italian capital of culture. But first, allow me to extend a special greeting and thanks to our President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, whose presence confirms the high value of the event. It is certainly not the first time that I reveal my feelings for a city to which I owe a lot, starting with the meeting with my husband Alfredo. After all, also my maternal great-grandfather, Moses Foligno was from Pesaro, resident in via delle Scuole. Mine is therefore a "double helix" bond, indissoluble. Ever since UNESCO elevated it to the global capital of culture, a sort of. has been created around the figure of the great composer Gioachino Rossini musical ecosystem; here everything resonates a special interweaving of memory and future, place of the soul. Ad maiora my city. Thanks again, congratulations. Liliana”.
The Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano: “It is essential to achieve existential balance between man, nature and technologies: It is from this complex balance that the new way of living that you yourselves include among the priorities of your journey will be born. Being the Italian capital of culture will allow you to rediscover your identity and strengthen community ties", said the minister. “The words you used to describe yourself define you well: margin line, threshold place between the Adriatic and the Apennines, between north and south, place of polycentric and indefinite identity. Promote Pesaro as a hinge between neighboring lands, place of transit where cultures integrate and different sensitivities intertwine in the awareness of one's own identity which encompasses and has full awareness of its own specific dimension, of its uniqueness. A city that involves and evolves in the challenge of creative contaminations".
The creative director of Pesaro 2024 Agostino Riitano: “The path we have taken to give shape, body and soul to the Pesaro Italian Capital of Culture project was long and intense. From the first steps, we had a belief: create a project necessary for the country and widely shared. And this is why we immediately developed our own working method, woven in a sartorial way on identity, the history and desires of the community. We called the method “Imaginary Neighborhood”: a path of co-creation with the active participation of citizens, so that "cultural participation" does not end in the mere enjoyment of a cultural product - entertainment, concerto, exhibition – but it can be a precious opportunity, of reflection and collective creation, starting from the looks and visions of the inhabitants.
The question we placed at the center of our action was "The nature of Culture", which is also the theme of our year as Capital. We therefore intend to explore contemporary relationships between nature, art and technology and to do this we involved 400 artists and scientists from 35 countries of the world, aware that the main challenges of contemporary man are articulated in the relationships between these three elements. Nature, art and technology describe the stages of a path of theoretical elaboration and conceptual invention in which we hope that the city will profoundly renew the terms with which it usually looks at itself and its cultural identity, with the aim of wanting to contribute to bringing about a change of perspective to experience the inevitable transformations that await us. The most important legacy that we will try to leave in the years to come with this cultural programming, it is a renewed feeling that follows the rhythm of a Rossini crescendo, May you accompany us with joy and hope towards the future. Happy Italian Capital of Culture to all of us”.
Some passages from the speech of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella: “Peace is also a great theme that concerns culture. Culture is a leaven that can regenerate peace. And with it the human values that wars tend to erase, drowning them in hatred, in resentment, in revenge, induced by nationalistic extremism. At this moment let's talk about culture, think about culture, transmitting culture means looking up, for a large-scale task. Because culture is patient sowing, especially in the new generations. Because culture is beneficially contagious and allows us to reflect on history so as not to fall back into the mistakes of the past. It allows you to admire the art, beauty, ingenuity, aware that aesthetics cannot be separated from an ethic of respect for the person. Pesaro has taken on this task, proposing it as the theme for his year as capital: “The nature of culture”. The nature, its balance to be rebuilt, reconciliation with the environment, severely violated and exploited, they are also urgent objectives of civilization and peace. The destruction of resources cannot be labeled as development but must be indicated as regression. Sustainability is a name for peace. Culture is knowledge. But also conscience. It takes intelligence and courage to break new ground. This year Pesaro aims to make art interact, nature and technology”.
