The Tuscan city of Pistoia was
chosen out of nine finalists to be the Italian culture capital
in 2017, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini has announced.
The other finalists were Aquileia, Como, Ercolano
(Herculaneum), Parma, Pisa, Spoleto, Taranto and Terni.
Pistoia will thus succeed the current Italian culture
capital, the Lombard city of Mantua.
"I believe we were selected for (our) idea that culture is
the first right of citizens," said Mayor Samuele Bertinelli.
"Pistoia invests in culture more than double the national
average".
The city plans to invest over 15 million euros - plus six
million euros in operating expenses - to revamp urban areas and
cultural infrastructure.
One of the projects is to turn the city's 13th-century
Ospedale del Ceppo - founded as a hospital in Medieval times and
renovated in the Renaissance by the Medici family - into a
multi-use cultural center.
The 76,000-square-meter building has a loggia decorated
with a 1525 frieze portraying the seven works of mercy, plus
tondos by Giovanni della Robbia depicting the Annunciation, the
Glory of the Virgin, the Visitation and the Medici coat of arms.
As well, the city plans to restore its ancient walled
fortifications, lay out bicycle paths in the historic center,
and develop its modern and contemporary art museum.
Also on the agenda is a large-scale retrospective of its
native son, sculptor Marino Marini (1901-1980), to be developed
jointly with the Guggenheim Foundation.
Pistoia is home to a blues festival that drew 45,000
spectators last summer, several theaters, and various Romanesque
and Renaissance churches - including the 5th-century Cathedral
of St. Zeno, with its Romanesque belfry standing at some 67
metres (220 ft) erected over an ancient Lombard tower.
The city is also famous for its octagonal 14th-century
Baptistry faced in white-and-green-striped marble in
characteristic Tuscan Gothic style.
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