Pordenone capital of culture in the name of regeneration

A unique opportunity to breathe new life into unused building heritage, enhance the tourism offer and nurture the development of education, including university education. This is what the nomination as Italian Capital of Culture 2027 represents for Pordenone, a goal on which the municipal administration and dozens of socio-economic actors, municipalities, associations, professionals and volunteers have kept their eyes focused for a long time. Imagining a city in transformation from here to the next ten years and interpreting culture as a lever to activate a plurality of virtuous circles. "From day one we have been thinking about a candidacy that would leave a legacy," Deputy Mayor Regent Alberto Parigi tells Il Sole 24 Ore NordEst. "One legacy will certainly be that of urban regeneration, the return to the community of spaces and areas that are today unused or underused. The other will be that of the extraordinary social cohesion, of the entire territory, which has been activated for the preparation of this candidacy'.

Urban regeneration

There are many urban regeneration projects in Pordenone Capital of Culture. Vacant shops and laboratories transformed into spaces to host itinerant artists; churches, shelters and places of memory that had been inaccessible for years reopened to the public; the elegant Villa Cattaneo, closed for some time, transformed into a multifunctional space for young people, with rooms for experimenting with new technologies in music production and workshops for composition and creation designed for the community. Also of note is the project for the Casa del Mutilato, an emblematic building that the municipality will purchase from the Anmig thanks to funds allocated by the Ministry of Culture (one million euros) to transform it into an interactive and immersive museum on the great industrialisation of the Northeast in the 20th century. Then there is the one for the former Tomadini area, a disused pasta factory that is to be transformed into the Noncello River Ecomuseum, a multifunctional centre for the conservation of the river ecosystem, with educational activities on sustainability and biodiversity. The idea is that the spaces that will be refurbished will remain available to the community even after 2027.

Attracting funds

The total dedicated budget is 5 million euro for the three-year period 2025/2027, of which approximately 12% will be invested in the first two years, for preparation work. And from now on, Pordenone will focus decisively on its nomination as Capital of Culture in order to attract what it calls a funding mix from public and private entities, and from European, national and regional calls. From Anci, for example, it has just received 350,000 euro for the Villa Cattaneo project. 'The Capital of Culture dossier acts as a masterplan for the city and is grafted onto the work of the municipal administration, which on the other hand has been pushing for some time for the interception of funds for urban regeneration and the revitalisation of spaces,' notes Parigi. 'To date, we are putting eighty public works on the ground for 180 million euro.