L’Aquila is the Italian Capital of Culture 2026. It was proclaimed by the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, during the ceremony underway in Rome, in the Spadolini Room of the Ministry, in the presence of the jury chaired by Davide Maria Desario and composed of Virginia Lozito, Luisa Piacentini, Andrea Prencipe, Andrea Rebaglio, Daniela Tisi, Isabella Valente, and representatives of all 10 finalist cities: Agnone (Isernia), Alba (Cuneo), Gaeta (Latina), L’Aquila, Latina, Lucera (Foggia), Maratea (Potenza), Rimini, Treviso, Union of Municipalities Valdichiana Senese (Siena).
“L’Aquila is about to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the earthquake. An event that has affected us not only as institutions, but as citizens. Being the Italian capital of culture is not compensation but represents an element around which to rebuild the social fabric of the our community.” The mayor of L’Aquila Pierluigi Biondi said this in the Spadolini room at Mic after the proclamation of L’Aquila as the Italian capital of culture 2026. “Culture is a founding element, it is the recovery of identity and projection into the future – he added – The other finalist cities will be part of this journey. We guarantee that we will be up to the task you assign to us… long live Italy”. The winning city will be awarded a financial contribution of one million euros to realize the objectives outlined in the application project. This substantial funding will allow ideas to be translated into concrete actions, resulting in an annual program to showcase the winner’s cultural richness and development prospects.”
Sangiuliano: L’Aquila, a city rich in history and identity
“I felt almost physically sorry to have to award only one city, however L’Aquila is a city rich in history and identity and certainly deserves to be the capital of culture. I would have liked to give this recognition to all the cities that were candidates, Unfortunately this was not possible. Now we will study a way to involve them at this moment.” This was said by the Minister of Culture Gennaro Sangiuliano, speaking to journalists, at the end of the proclamation of L’Aquila as the Italian Capital of Culture 2026. A decision taken unanimously by the commission which evaluated the projects presented by 10 finalist cities.
“The characteristic of which our nation must be proud is that in Italy we do not have just one or two iconic cities but we have at least 80-90 cities, each of which tells a story and an identity” he adds. A characteristic of Italy “that we have the duty to preserve and present to the whole world“. L’Aquila “has a great historical tradition, I believe that its project will then expand to the whole of Abruzzo, we are talking about the region that gave birth to Benedetto Croce, born in Pescasseroli or to the Spaventa brothers, born in Bomba (Chieti) “. L’Aquila “is a city that has many cultural values to express and this is an opportunity to make them known”.
To those who ask the minister whether this is also an opportunity to heal the wounds of the earthquake, Sangiuliano replies: “I don’t know if the commission, which is absolutely autonomous and independent of me, has made a reasoning of this type. It may be that as in the case of the direct assignment to Bergamo and Brescia, which had suffered so much from Covid, the commission also assessed the conclusion of those wounds, the need to look forward”. Shortly before the proclamation Sangiuliano had also commented on the proposal of the president of the commission, Davide Maria Desario, to integrate the call for the Italian Capital of Culture, providing in addition to the prize for the winner, also recognition for the other finalist cities: “I fully welcome the “idea of finding some way to reward all the finalist cities, not just the winner, to bring these projects to life. We are already doing this in part: the capital of contemporary art initiative will also start next year.”
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