Cantiere Città: Italian Culture Capitals Expand to Ten

The Italian Ministry of Culture and the Fondazione Scuola dei beni e delle attività culturali have launched the third edition of Cantiere Città, a capacity-building project that brought together representatives from ten cities competing for the title of Italian Capital of Culture 2026. The three-day event in L'Aquila (November 13–15, 2024) included meetings, seminars, labs, and workshops, concluding a collaboration that began in May 2024. Participants included L'Aquila, Alba, Agnone, Gaeta, Latina, Lucera, Maratea, Rimini, Treviso, and the Unione dei Comuni della Valdichiana Senese. The project focuses on youth engagement and sustainability. Onofrio Cutaia, extraordinary commissioner of the foundation, highlighted the strategic value of Cantiere Città as a training lab for cities to center culture in growth and development. A spin-off, Cantiere Città Junior Edition, will empower young people to organize sustainable cultural weekends in their cities from January to April 2025. Contributions from the event will be published in a free volume available from January 2025 on the Fondazione Scuola Patrimonio website. Mario Turetta, head of the Ministry's Department for Cultural Activities, stated that Cantiere Città represents a fundamental step for finalists and the winner toward creating lasting cultural projects. The project continues in February 2025, gathering all thirty cities from previous editions to work on a broader vision for culture across Italy.