“We must start from culture: cultural comparison, cultural dialogue, cultural exchange constitute a mutual enrichment for each and every one in the international community. An enrichment that benefits everyone”. With these words the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, spoke at the opening of the thirteenth edition of Unesco Creative Cities Forum in Fabriano. "It is a condition – added the Head of State – which has strong and solid precedents in history". Mattarella then paid homage to Leonardo da Vinci, a symbol of Italian culture in the world and whose 500th anniversary of his death falls in recent months.
Moreover, the Unesco event was ennobled and embellished by the exclusive exhibition, in the Marche city until 15 June, of the Leonardo's "Benois Madonna", on loan from the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. “On this 500th anniversary of his death – said the president -, we cannot fail to recall how that great Italian and European genius poured his art and culture, ability and inventiveness, the extraordinary personality with which he was endowed, in various of the states into which Italy was then divided and then into France. This exchange, this network of exchanges attests to the uniqueness of culture beyond all borders”.
The XIII Unesco Creative Cities Network Annual Conference is the most important international event of the Unesco creative cities network, promoted in Italy by Maria Francesca Merloni, Unesco Goodwill Ambassador for Creative Cities, and by Franco Bernabè, president of the Italian National Commission for Unesco since 2016 (the interview given to FIRST Arte). The opening ceremony is followed by the Mayors' Forum: an opportunity for mayors and delegates from all over the world to exchange views and give rise to an international debate on the challenges facing cities in the 2030st century. The appointment, moderated by Beppe Severgnini, aims to develop concrete proposals in the perspective of a redefinition of urbanization policies and processes, in the light of the objectives of the UN XNUMX Agenda. It should also be noted that Biella is a candidate to become a Unesco Creative City.
The Italian edition of the event is registering record numbers, with the participation of 60 institutional representatives, about 500 guests, 150 cities and 65 countries represented, is the most attended in the history of the Network. From abroad, mayors from Saudi Arabia, Portugal, Egypt, Afghanistan, South Korea, Ecuador, Spain, Scotland, New Zealand, France, Australia, Poland, Belgium, Turkey, Norway, Jordan, among others, are participating in the meeting. , Canada, the Bahamas, Great Britain, Sweden, Burkina Faso, Thailand, Colombia, Cape Verde, Brazil, Azerbaijan, China, Japan and Lebanon. For Italy there are the mayors Giuseppe Sala (Milan), Virginio Merola (Bologna), Francesco De Pasquale (Carrara) and Matteo Ricci (Pesaro).
