Nova Gorica is a modernist city built a mere 80 years ago, while its neighbour Gorizia (Gorica in Slovene) has a much longer history, shaped for centuries by Slovenians, Friulians, Italians and the Habsburgs. The European Capital of Culture (ECOC) will be an opportunity to get to know it better.

Nova Gorica, which translates as new Gorica, was built after World War II, as the newly drawn border between Italy and what was then Yugoslavia cut the region from its capital, often referred to by the locals as the "old" Gorica/Gorizia. Many of its landmarks bear witness to Slovenian presence.

Victory Square in Italian, Meadow in Slovene

In the heart of the city, below Gorizia Castle, Piazza della Vittoria (Victory Square) has kept its old Slovenian name, Travnik (Meadow).

The square will be one of the stops as a parade of musicians and dancers sets off from Gorizia's mid-19th century railway station towards Nova Gorica for the ECOC opening ceremony on 8 February.

Its name testifies to the strong presence of Slovenians. They would leave their horses in the meadow below the medieval castle and walk along today's Rastello/Raštel street to the castle to see the Gorizia and later Habsburg lords.

The square features Neptune's Fountain and the Church of St Ignatius of Loyola. A four-language plaque on one of the buildings is dedicated to the eleven leaders of the Tolmin Peasants' Revolt, Slovenians who were executed in the square in 1714.

Cinema in once a buzzing shopping street

Via Rastello used to be a lively commercial street. Many of the shopkeepers were Slovene and people from Nova Gorica and beyond would often come there to do their shopping and be served in their mother tongue.

Once Yugoslavia fell apart and the stores moved to shopping centres, the street lost its former appeal, but the locals are trying to bring it back to life.

One of the former shops has been turned into an art cinema. It is home to the BrogGO Cinema project and Kinoatelje, a cinema hub founded in 1977 by Darko Bratina (1942-1997), a member of the Italian Senate, film critic and sociologist.

Kinoatelje will host several ECOC events, including film walks, the first of which in February will remember Gorizia-born actress Nora Gregor (1901-1949).

Park honouring psychiatrist Basaglia

A park named after Franco Basaglia (1924-1980), an Italian psychiatrist who revolutionised mental health care in Italy and closed the asylums, is to be turned into a place of cross-border cultural cooperation and an events venue.

In the 1960s Basaglia was director of the Gorizia psychiatric hospital. The building still stands in the park, but it no longer serves its original purpose and is currently under renovation.

The plan is to create an events venue and link the park with the town of Šempeter pri Gorici on the Slovenian side of the border. Films about Basaglia and mental health will be screened in the park.

In cooperation with the Museum of Madness at Cmurek Castle in northeast Slovenia, a sculpture of a horse is to travel from Trieste to Cmurek, visiting various Slovenian mental health institutions on the way.

The sculpture was created in 1973 by a group of patients and staff at the Trieste psychiatric hospital under the supervision of artists as part of alternative therapies introduced by Basaglia.

Character Heads in Coronini Park

The Coronini Park, designed in the second half of the 19th century around the Coronini Palace, will provide the backdrop for an exhibition of the Character Heads, created by Bavarian sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt between 1770 and his death in 1783.

The sculptures, which represent a range of human expressions, can now be found in different parts of the world; 54 of the original Kopfstücke are believed to have been preserved, including two in Gorizia.

For the first time since Messerschmidt's death all the sculptures will be displayed in one place, some of them perhaps only virtually.

The 16th-century palace of the Counts of Coronini provided home to King Charles X as he fled revolution in France. The last French king died in the palace in 1836 and is buried on the Slovenian side of the border, in the tomb of the Bourbon family in the Kostanjevica monastery above Nova Gorica. He is the only French king buried outside of France.

Tribute to Zoran Mušič

The magnificent 18th-century Palazzo Attems Petzenstein, once the property of the Counts of Attems-Petzenstein, now houses the Art Gallery of Musei Provinciali with a permanent collection of works by 18th-century Venetian masters and a series of 19th-century portraits.

As part of the ECOC, a major exhibition of works by Andy Warhol is on display there until the beginning of May. Later it will also host an exhibition of works by the influential Slovenian-born artist Zoran Mušič (1909-2005).

Mušič exhibitions are also planned in February at Dobrovo Castle in the hilly region of Brda near Nova Gorica and in the medieval town of Štanjel.

His life, work and legacy will be presented in a virtual museum in his home village of Bukovica. The three-dimensional projection is being created in cooperation with Arctur, a Nova Gorica technology solutions company.

Major global music artists

On the Italian side of the Rožna Dolina/Casa Rossa border crossing an events venue is being developed that will host some major concerts after Patti Smith performed there in October 2023.

This summer, the venue will see rockers Thirty Seconds to Mars with Jared Leto, and the trip hop band Massive Attack. Alanis Morissette and Sting will perform at the Villa Manin near Udine, while Robbie Williams will perform in Trieste.

The concerts are part of the accompanying programme of GO!2025.

This content is brought to you in cooperation with the GO! 2025 Nova Gorica Gorizia European Capital of Culture.