The Mediterranean area will have its own cultural capital, elected every year, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said after a summit of 30 culture ministers from the area and beyond in Naples on Friday.
He said Naples might be one of the first rotating culture capitals of the Med. “Over the last two days Naples has already shown itself to be a great cultural capital, now we will define rules and means but Naples has all the credentials (to become Med culture capital)”.
“Our idea is to every year have a city of the Mediterranean, of the Middle East, of Africa, or Europe, and of the Balkans that becomes in that year the capital of Mediterranean culture,” said Italian culture minister Dario Franceschini on the sidelines of a plenary session of 30 culture ministers of the Mediterranean gathered for a two-day summit at Naples’ Palazzo Reale.
“We are talking about it,” he added. “Let’s see whether the proposal will go forward.” “We are working on a final statement that seriously commits countries to shared sensitivity as concerns countering the illegal trafficking of cultural goods as well as for youth exchanges and the circulation of art. This is an important agenda, but even sitting around this table is important,” Franceschini said.
“At such a difficult time for the world, the fact that countries far from each other, in some cases even hostile (to each other) agree to sit down around the same table and speak about Mediterranean culture seems an important signal to me.” In the final statement of the summit, the minister said, “there will be reference to actions of the international community for the protection of cultural heritage threatened by natural disasters, wars, on the model of the Italian UN task force.” “We are moving in this direction,” he said. “Our efforts here as Italy is to play a role of service and bringing together.”
Via Ansa
