L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE T o many Italians, A n c o n a i s a place you move through without stopping: you get off a train or arrive at the port, see the ferries lined up f o r C r o a t i a a n d G r e e c e , maybe notice the cathedral sitting above everything, and then you continue on your way. Beautiful, of course, but more of a door that opens onto the Adriatic than a town to see and where to be. But, in March 2026, the M a r c h e c a p o l u o g o d i regione was named Italian C a p i t a l o f C u l t u r e f o r 2028, in a choice that, more than the city's own history or a r t i s t i c b e a u t y , s e e m s t o award the idea of develop- m e n t a n d c h a n g e i t h a s embraced. T h e j u r y ' s r e a s o n i n g makes that quite clear, if it's true that there is very little in it about monuments in the u s u a l s e n s e , o r a b o u t a ready-made identity that can b e p a c k a g e d a n d s o l d t o tourists. What stands out, on the other hand, is the idea that culture could be used a l m o s t a s a w o r k i n g t o o l , something that can reshape how a city functions, how people move through it, or how different parts begin to speak to each other again. T h e t i t l e o f t h e p r o j e c t – Questo Adesso, "this, now" – carries a certain weight, even if simple, because it doesn't focus on either a glorious past that is no more, or does i t p r o m i s e s o m e d i s t a n t transformation. Rather, it stays close to the present, to what can actually be done. Founded by the Greeks, l a t e r a b s o r b e d i n t o t h e Roman world, and then influenced over centuries by maritime trade, Ancona h a s a l w a y s b e e n o r i e n t e d outward, something, in fact, dictated by its very geogra- phy: the port curves into the land like an open arm, and above it, the Duomo of San Ciriaco holds its position, stable and still, but always part of the movement below. Ships arrive, ships leave, and the city grows around that constant exchange. The 2028 project starts f r o m t h e r e , w i t h t h e s e a becoming the city's main ref- erence point. In the section c a l l e d Q u e s t o M a r e , t h e Adriatic is understood as a shared space, one that links Ancona to a wider network of places and histories. It's a way of making visible some- thing that has always been true, but not always fully understood or spoken up: t h a t A n c o n a b e l o n g s a s much to a Mediterranean system of relations as it does to the Italian mainland. From the water, the focus moves back inward, follow- ing a line that runs through t h e h i s t o r i c c e n t e r – t h e city's Via Maestra – in an a t t e m p t o f r e c o n n e c t i n g spaces that have long existed side by side without really forming a continuous experi- ence. Museums, libraries, monuments, and places you might visit separately are finally brought into a kind of sequence, so that the city itself can be read more clear- ly and its many layers can emerge in relation to each other. S o m e s p a c e s s t i l l s i t slightly apart, the ones that are there but not always fully u s e d . T h e P a r c o d e l Cardeto is the most obvi- ous example, a large green area overlooking the sea that feels, at times, almost out- side the everyday rhythm of t h e c i t y . U n d e r t h e n a m e Adesso Parco, the project tries to bring these locations back into circulation without transforming them radically but simply changing how they are lived: perhaps a less flamboyant change, but one that could last for longer. T h e p l a n f o r 2 0 2 8 i s based on a cohesive idea that r u n s t h r o u g h t h e e n t i r e Ancona Capital of Culture proposal: that of Mare Cul- turale, or cultural sea. Here, the maritime identity of Ancona becomes a way of thinking about culture itself, s o m e t h i n g o p e n , m o b i l e , capable of connecting differ- e n t f i e l d s , f r o m a r t t o r e s e a r c h t o c o m m u n i t y work. It's the part of the pro- j e c t t h a t f e e l s t h e l e a s t defined and, for that reason, the most open to interpreta- tion. A t a c e r t a i n p o i n t , a l l these threads seem to come together around a very spe- cific place, the Mole Van- vitelliana, which sits with- i n t h e p o r t , o n i t s o w n island, and has always been slightly difficult to catego- rize. Built in the eighteenth century, it served different functions over time, but it never lost that sense of being both inside and outside the city, a symbol of it, but also a departure point. In the plans for 2028, it becomes a kind of center of gravity, a space where exhibitions, perfor- mances, and research can intersect, perhaps not in a spectacular way but, again, with steadiness and with the long-term goal of renewing Ancona through discovery. Other interesting projects can be mentioned, such as the Museo della Civiltà del Mare Adriatico, an attempt to give a more struc- tured form to the city's rela- tionship with the sea. Before t h e m u s e u m i t s e l f t a k e s shape, a series of exhibitions i s e x p e c t e d t o b e g i n t h e work, building a narrative b a s e d o n t h e c o n n e c t i o n between history and the pre- sent. With this project and the victory that ensued, Ancona is not trying to position itself alongside Italy's more imme- diately recognizable cultural centers; instead, it is moved by a very different question, that is, what happens when culture is used not to repre- sent a city, but to reconnect i t w i t h i t s e l f ; n o t t o a d d something new, but to bring e x i s t i n g e l e m e n t s i n t o a more coherent relationship. This attitude can feel like a change: Ancona does not o f f e r a s i n g l e , d e f i n i n g image, preferring to reveal i t s e l f i n p a r t s , t h r o u g h movement, through proxim- ity, through the way it opens toward the sea, only to final- l y r e t u r n i n t o i t s e l f . I t requires a bit more time, a bit more attention, but it also gives something differ- ent in return. I n t h a t s e n s e , Q u e s t o adesso works almost as a statement of intent, because it suggests that a city does not need to rely only on what it has been, or on what it hopes to become, but can act o n w h a t i t i s , r i g h t n o w . Because the present, if taken seriously, can be enough of a starting point. FRANCESCA BEZZONE Piazza del Plebiscito in Ancona, where the Government Palace reflects the city's long civic history as it prepares to serve as Italy's Capital of Culture in 2028 (Photo: Elisa Locci/Dreamstime) Ancona 2028: a cultural capital unlike the rest

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