In the end the choice fell on Parma which therefore in 2020 will be the Italian capital of culture. The Emilian city beat the other nine candidates. Also in the running were: Agrigento, Bitonto, Casale Monferrato, Macerata, Merano, Nuoro, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia and Treviso.
The announcement came at the end of the work of the selection jury through the mouth of the president Stephen Bay in the context of a public ceremony held at the Mibact headquarters in the presence of Minister Dario Franceschini: "Thanks to the mayors, the promoting committees, the members of the Commission for mutual loyalty, the sense of friendship, the atmosphere that led to the decision ” said Baia Curioni, explaining the projects that were presented. “They were messages in bottles that told us about the capacity of our communities. A capacity for strength. The common trait of the cities that presented themselves is theirs desire and ability to redeem. From the violence wrought on the territory, from nature, from the exaggerated processes of urban growth".
The city is chosen every year by a commission of seven experts appointed by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage. The aim is to allow individual territories to show their beauty and cultural development.
We remember that the Capital of Italian Culture in 2018 is Palermo which follows in Pistoia (2017) and Mantua (2016).
