ParCo's idea for a contemporary Parma

The Oltretorrente is that part of the city on the other side of the Parma torrent that houses the Parco Ducale, part of the University and the splendid Santissima Annunziata church. An important place in the memory of Parmigiani, where the barricades were erected in 1922 to stop the fascists following Italo Balbo, remembered by the mural on the embankment that reads "Balbo t'è pasè l'Atlantic, mo miga la Pärma". A working-class neighbourhood, today it has evolved, like many similar neighbourhoods in Italian cities, in a sometimes complicated relationship between historical inhabitants and new Italians.

Dominating the district is the Ospedale Vecchio complex, a building begun in the 14th century, which already in the early 16th century, under the fifteen arches of the great cross vault, housed the sick, the poor and foundlings until 1925 when it was transformed into the State Archives and Civic Library. A historic place that the Municipality is now renovating thanks to an investment of over 14 million euro from European, municipal and Fondazione Cariparma funds. Around this huge space, the city has started a path of reflection promoted by 'Parma, io ci sto!', an association founded in 2016 as an initiative of people and companies, with the aim of triggering projects for the economic, social and cultural development of the territory. A path that became an active listening to the city, realised in synergy with the City of Parma, with the strategic contribution of The Place Bureau, to give life to a reality devoted to the contemporary within a space, we can proudly say, that has no equal in the world.

According to the idea of 'Parma, io ci sto!' and the Municipality of Parma, the Ospedale Vecchio will become the home of ParCO - Parma Contemporanea, a place of participation and dialogue with the urban and social fabric of the neighbourhood and the Parco Ducale, built around three founding themes that emerged from the citizen listening workshops, innovation, democracy and sustainability. An ambitious challenge that is firmly rooted in Parma Italian Capital of Culture 2020+21, a pioneering example of public-private collaboration that has brought almost 500,000 visitors to Parma for events, exhibitions and shows and has left behind a coordinated image project, curated by German graphic designer Erik Spiekermann, which now stands out in the streets of the city, alongside the presence of industrial realities rooted in the territory, from Chiesi to Barilla, from Davines to Dallara, in strategic sectors for the country such as agrifood and pharmaceuticals, in the heart of Emilia-Romagna, the second region for per capita exports in Italy. Names and numbers of an economic system and territory that intends to compete on international markets and must become increasingly attractive to students, workers and managers from all over the world. Also in this direction, an openness to the contemporary can enrich the cultural heritage of a city that is already rich in history and masterpieces, not only artistic, from Leonardo da Vinci's Scapigliata preserved in the Pilotta, to the city figure of Giuseppe Verdi, from the Csac archives to the Unesco Creative City of Gastronomy title.

ParCO wants to be a multidisciplinary and dynamic space, a platform for exchange in dialogue with the city's main cultural institutions and with the University of Parma, capable of speaking to the new generations of a city that will be European Youth Capital in 2027. We will tell this vision on Saturday 27 September at a first public event, an international forum that will open the Ospedale Vecchio to the city, the Italian press and operators in the contemporary art world. It will be the occasion for the launch of an international open call (parmacontemporanea.org) to identify a guide that will help us elaborate the necessary building blocks for the birth of ParCO by the beginning of 2026, in the name of the themes that emerged from listening to the city. Those who wish to take up the challenge will be able to count on a solid ecosystem, visionary partners and the support of an exceptional Advisory Board, to build a project capable of bringing together tradition and the contemporary, combining local context and international vision and contributing to a generation of new citizens oriented towards a democratic society open to the issues of our time.

Councillor of 'Parma io ci sto!