From “shame of Italy” to European capital of culture in 2019, Matera celebrated having also trounced Lecce in an unusual southern derby.
It is Matera that has been designated as the Italian city to hold the coveted role of European Capital of Culture for 2019.
The outcome is the result of a lengthy evaluation process carried out by a jury of international experts composed of Jordi Pardo, Anu Kivilo, Paolo Dalla Sega, Suzana Žilic Fišer, Ulrich Fuchs, Elisabeth Vitouch, Norbert Riedl, Lorenza Bolelli, Gerardo Casale, Emma Giammattei, Alessandro Hinna and Francesco Manacorda, chaired by Steve Green. The announcement was made by Minister Dario Franceschini at the Collegio Romano immediately after the vote by the 13 jury members, chaired by Steve Green. The result was clear: 7 votes out of 13 for the Basilicata regional capital. According to some observers, the economic impact on the area will be between 30 and 50 million euros.
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With the precise aim of fostering not only culture but also an awareness among European citizens of belonging to a single, great cultural heritage, jury president Steve Green was also keen to highlight the positive outcome of the entire Europa 2019 initiative: "The six cities have built excellent relationships with one another and also with the Bulgarian candidates, in an excellent way, as had never happened before. It is important that the cities not nominated do not become discouraged, but continue to work." The Italian cities of Cagliari, Lecce, Perugia-Assisi, Siena and Ravenna could become, as a consolation prize and so as not to waste the organisational work carried out so far, Italian capitals of culture in 2015 and 2016.
The city's mayor, Salvatore Adduce, emphasised how this result, by no means a foregone conclusion, is "a sign of civilisation and redemption, one that travels from Matera and the South to Europe. We are not here to beg, but to make our contribution and show that culture can transform a territory."
Good governance, active citizen participation, a marked creativity in the initiatives planned, the European and long-lasting dimension of the project, the promotion of the cultural diversity of member states alongside a celebration of common aspects: these are the criteria that Matera succeeded in embodying throughout the process of securing the nomination.
A solid economic foundation. Of the one hundred projects envisaged by the 2019 cultural programme, 50 are already finalised and described in the dossier. The total investment is approximately 50 million euros, of which 25 million euros are already allocated to the Basilicata-Matera2019 foundation. Matera was the only one of the six finalists to have already established a foundation with a solid economic base to underpin the planned programmes.
An open, forward-looking approach. The slogan chosen by Matera for its bid was "Open Future", as explained in the official document written by the organising committee.
We are all obsessed with the eternal present in which we are immersed, as though it were impossible to look ahead and commit to future generations. Yet it is precisely an ancient city like Matera that can fearlessly contemplate the times to come, having reinvented itself so many times and emerged victorious from its contest with time. Together with many other small and medium-sized European cities, Matera has shared the same fate of being a consumer of products originating from the great centres of cultural production. In recent years, however, the picture is changing. A movement is emerging that systematically removes the barriers to accessing culture: it uses new technologies, adopts open licences to make culturally and economically sustainable a model in which cultural production is widespread, horizontal and participatory.
The story of the Sassi di Matera, from slum to Unesco recognition. Having become, after the 1950s, synonymous with degradation — forcibly cleared as a source of shame for the Italian nation — the Sassi di Matera are in reality a sustainable, community-based housing model from which inspiration can also be drawn for the city of the future. Completely depopulated, with their inhabitants forced to move to new districts in the 1950s and 1960s, talk of recovery began in the 1980s, though there was uncertainty over whether to turn them into a museum or restore them as dwellings. A further mark of recognition came with their inscription on the Unesco World Heritage List in 1993, making them the first site in southern Italy to receive the designation.