"Catania capital of culture": tomorrow the city plays for its future

A city that never stops. A continuous city. A living organism that looks up, far away, and within, distinguished by its extraordinary ability to adapt and be reborn infinitely. Like the Etna that dominates its skyline, Catania is in perpetual transformation: every eruption becomes an opportunity for rebirth.

It is from these premises that the candidacy for “Capital of Culture” 2028 has begun, which will receive the awaited (and longed-for) response from Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli tomorrow. He will be the one, during the official ceremony in the Spadolini Hall of the ministry on Via del Collegio Romano, to announce the winning city.

On the eve of the result, the emotion is high. Lips are sealed by Mayor Enrico Trantino, his entourage, and representatives of the promotional committee, partly out of superstition.

The city is among the ten finalists for the title with the dossier “Catania Continua”, a project aimed at enhancing the city's identity, urban and cultural regeneration through a participatory process and the construction of a cultural plan that looks to the long term (up to 2038). The candidacy, supported by a visual identity linked to the Etna and prominent figures such as astronaut Luca Parmitano and showman Rosario Fiorello, both “marca liotru,” focuses on inclusion, sustainability, and connection between the sea and the mountain. Among the key points of the project “Catania Continua” is the participatory vision. The dossier is, in fact, the result of “Catania 2028 - Spazio in Comune”, a desk and a series of meetings to co-design the cultural future with citizens, entities, and associations. There is also a visual identity in which the Etna is the central symbol, represented as a “generative mountain” that inspires a deep, vertical, and future-oriented vision.

At the end of February, the delegation presented the project to the Ministry of Culture, focusing on the concept of "continuous city" that evolves and transforms. Catania 2028 is a collective narrative: communication becomes the thread that connects perspectives and objectives, a tool to rediscover together who we are and a channel to show the world a renewed city. It is not just about promotion, but about building community, creating networks, and activating shared imaginaries. A participatory storytelling: citizens, schools, artists, associations become co-authors of the narrative, contributing with stories, images, and visions to a mosaic that reflects the plural soul of the city.

The baton is, therefore, ready to pass to a new city, called to transform culture into a lever for growth, identity, and future. And the final decision will mark the beginning of a new journey and, for the winner, an ambitious challenge: to demonstrate that culture is not an ornament, but a strategic infrastructure for tomorrow. If Catania wins, it will receive one million euros to implement the projects presented in the dossier.

So, good luck Catania.