Sarzana, Italian Capital of Culture 2028: the Impavida model

Liguria teams up around Sarzana and its candidacy for Italian Capital of Culture 2028. A few days before the decisive hearing at the Ministry of Culture, scheduled in Rome, the President of the Region Marco Bucci, the vice president with responsibility for Culture Simona Ferro and the Councilor for Culture of the Municipality of Sarzana Giorgio Borrini, representing the mayor Cristina Ponzanelli, they illustrated the strategic lines of the dossier.

Not an isolated candidacy, but a large area project which involves the entire Ligurian cultural system, from the Val di Magra to the Gulf of Poets, up to the great Genoese institutions.

An integrated cultural system: a united Liguria

The "Sarzana 2028" dossier is based on an unprecedented regional network. Alongside the "Fearless" city, there are leading entities such as Ducal Palace Foundation, National Theater of Genoa and Teatro Carlo Felice.

The project goes beyond parochial logic to affirm a model of a widespread cultural system, capable of integrating:

• theaters and museums

• archaeological areas and fortresses

• production spaces converted into places of culture

• historical itineraries such as the Via Francigena

The initiatives extend to the municipalities of the Magra and Vara Valleys and the coastal areas, in a vision that combines heritage, landscape, and contemporary production.

Domenico Fiasella: The Bridge Between Rome and Genoa

The scientific heart of the dossier is the rediscovery of Domenico Fiasella, known as "il Sarzana". Trained in Rome, his figure represents the hinge between Caravaggio's naturalism and classicism.

The project includes a three-year path that will bring Sarzana and Genoa into dialogue, deepening the legacy of Caravaggio, between Liguria, Italy, and Europe. This choice strengthens the candidacy with high-profile historical, artistic, and scientific content.

Audiovisual as a strategic asset

The ministerial hearing will also be supported by a video made with the Genoa Liguria Film Commission.

The short film, conceived as a narrative unity, is not just a promotional tool, but a central element of the cultural strategy: audiovisual media becomes a contemporary language to translate Liguria's historical identity into a narrative capable of attracting new audiences and quality tourism.

In a region increasingly chosen as an international film set, culture is intertwined with the creative industry and territorial promotion.

The “Impavida” model: a solution for Italy

Sarzana's candidacy is proposed as a concrete response to the rift between the metropolis and the province. The "Impavida" model aims to transform a medium-sized city into a cultural innovation hub, making beauty a strategic infrastructure.

Among the declared objectives:

• fight against depopulation

• urban regeneration

• creation of new jobs

• widespread and sustainable tourism, an alternative to overtourism

The international dimension is strengthened by the support of French institutions, including the City of Nice, and by the connection with the Euro-Mediterranean network of the Alps-Mediterranean Euroregion.

A candidacy that looks to the future

Sarzana presents itself as a national laboratory capable of offering replicable solutions to today's major challenges: quality of urban life, village development, and culture as a lever for welfare and development.

If Sarzana wins, the promoters claim, the entire Ligurian system will win. A challenge that aims to transform culture into a structural engine of growth, identity, and cohesion.