The first cross-border European Capital of Culture will get under way on 8 February with a 14-hour programme in five locations in Nova Gorica and Gorizia featuring more than 2,000 performers. Senior guests, including the presidents of Slovenia and Italy, are expected to attend.

Coinciding with Slovenian Culture Day, the festivities will start with a brass band parade setting off from the Gorizia railway station at 10am before visiting locations on both sides of the border.

Parade of music, dance and singing

Led by the Gong Cross-Border Wind Orchestra, the procession will move along the Corso to the city centre where the baton will pass to the Slovenian and Italian Police Orchestras.

In Piazza della Vittoria (Victory Square) the audience will be addressed at 11.15am by the mayors of both cities, Rodolfo Ziberna from Gorizia and Samo Turel from Nova Gorica.

This will kick off a cross-border parade featuring over 700 performers from each side of the border. Members of local sports and cultural associations will fill the streets with dance, music and singing.

The parade will cross the border into Slovenia at around 2pm at Erjavčeva Street and then head to Bevk Square, where it will be greeted by the two mayors once again at around 3pm to wrap up the morning part of the festivities.

High-profile official opening

The official opening ceremony featuring high-profile guests will follow at 4pm in Europe Square on the border. Speakers include President Nataša Pirc Musar and her Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella and other senior officials from both countries and the European Commission.

The event, at which heightened security measures will apply, will also see the Police Orchestras from both countries perform the national anthems of Slovenia, Italy and the European Union. The event will be broadcast live by RTV Slovenija and Italy's RAI.

Highlights of GO!2025

The artistic part of the GO! 2025 opening spectacle will take place in Edvard Kardelj Square in Nova Gorica starting at 6pm with a welcome address by Prime Minister Robert Golob.

Multiinstrumentalist Boštjan Gombač will then perform on the Neanderthal flute, considered to be the oldest musical instrument in the world. He will be accompanied by wind orchestras from the Idrija and Cerkno region in western Slovenia where the flute was found.

The highlights of the European Capital of Culture will be presented by several artists, including pianists Alexander Gadjiev and Giuseppe Guarrera, MN Dance Company, Duo Silence, the Dunking Devils acrobatic group, BridA art collective, and the band MRFY will perform a song created together with Laibach.

Finally, opera soloists Raiven, Laura Ulloa, Gregor Ravnik and Federico Lepre, joined by the Borderless Opera Choir and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, will perform an adaptation of the song Together/Insieme as the recurring theme of the day. The organisers have also promised some surprises.

Borderless Party

The opening festivities will wrap up with what has been dubbed a borderless party. DJ Brina Knauss will be on stage in Edvard Kardelj Square, followed by a concert by MRFY, while DJs Daddy G and Andy Smith will entertain the crowd in Europe Square.

The party will continue in bars, clubs and restaurants in both cities long into the night.

Several roads will be closed to traffic due to the opening ceremony, Info on traffic and parking regime will be available on the website www.go-borderless.eu.

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