Italian cities and regions urge MiBACT to extend Parma's culture capital title through 2021

Forty-four Italian cities have applied to become Italian Capital of Culture 2021, but many local administrators are mobilizing to support Parma, the current titleholder, whose activities are suspended due to the coronavirus emergency. They want Parma to retain the title for 2021 as well. The mayor of Volterra, Giacomo Santi, was the first to publicly back an extension and wrote a letter to the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (MiBACT) after the ministry extended the deadline for submitting candidacy dossiers to June 30. Santi proposed a teleconference meeting of all candidate cities to discuss the situation. MiBACT responded positively, allowing cities that submitted dossiers by March 12 to withdraw and resubmit by June 30. Meanwhile, the coordination of regional culture councilors, led by Emilia-Romagna's culture councilor Mauro Felicori, unanimously approved a proposal to extend Parma's capital year through 2021 and requested an amendment to Article 90 of the 'Cura Italia' decree.