Report on CESCI’s study tour to Gorizia in 2022
Knowledge sharing | 13 September 2022
The Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives organised this year again its study tour for its members, which is slowly becoming a tradition. The study tour took place between the 6th and 9th of September 2022 in the Italian-Slovenian border region with the aim of providing participants an opportunity to learn about the cross-border cultural, mobility and social initiatives in the region, as well as the innovative and prestigious instruments that enable their implementation. Such instruments are the Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI), the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) or the European Capital of Culture (ECOC) initiative. Ten members of the association attended this year’s four-day trip (representatives of county and city councils, EGTCs and territorial development associations) and two employees also joined them from CESCI’s organisation.
The first day of the study tour was mainly about covering a distance of nearly 600 kilometres. Travelling by a minibus provided an opportunity for old and new members to get to know each other in an informal way, along with exploring key professional interests. During the trip, the group tasted the famous Trojane doughnuts and after Trieste, visited the Miramare Castle, where they admired the original furnishings of the castle, as well as the seaside park designed by the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian. Upon arrival in Gorizia, after settling into their accommodation, Ivan Curzolo, director of the Informest office, welcomed the group for a joint dinner.
In the morning of the second day, the director of GO EGTC, Maja Radovanović, and the project manager, Nika Durnik invited the participants to the office of the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation. During the presentation, the group gained a detailed insight into the history, the past and ongoing projects and the future plans of the EGTC, which was established in 2011 and consists of three member municipalities (Gorizia, Nova Gorica and Šempeter-Vrtojba). This EGTC is special in many different ways: it was created in a war-torn area, which is also divided by borders, and apart from the language and cultural differences, the cooperation is further complicated by the difficult past, and the locals’ complex relationship regarding their identity, each other and the border. At the same time, the EGTC is spectacularly successful in using innovative tools, such as the cross-border use of Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI), with the help of which two cross-border initiatives were successfully implemented.
The first project package is about health care and aims to build a network of different health care services across borders to improve their accessibility and efficiency. To this end, three cross-border medical teams were set up to work closely together on mental health, autism and physiological pregnancy, providing a range of coordinated services for people on both sides of the border. The second project package aims to conserve, protect, restore and enhance the natural and cultural heritage of the Isonzo-Soča River. Accordingly, the project activities included the development of a cross-border network of pedestrian and cycling routes, including the construction of a cycling bridge (which was visited by the group during the study tour).
During the presentation, the EGTC also provided details about the process of writing the successful European Capital of Culture tender, which was coordinated by the grouping. The 2025 title is shared between Gorizia in Italy and Nova Gorica in Slovenia, which authentically symbolizes the concept of Europe without borders, but also poses major organisational challenges. The EGTC is determined to promote a more bottom-up, people-centred initiatives, and therefore launches a number of calls for proposals for local artists and communities. During the tender writing process between the towns, now separated only by a symbolic border, a temporary border fence was built in the wake of an unexpected pandemic, which the locals creatively reinterpreted as a meeting point. The EGTC’s staff showed the group a short film about this. The meeting ended with answering the technical and organisational questions of the participants.
Before the afternoon professional programme, CESCI’s members visited the famous Transalpina Square, which was previously physically divided by the Italian-Slovenian border and which is planned to be renovated and filled with new content within the framework of the ECoC project of 2025.
The afternoon was organised by the International Institute of Sociology (Istituto di Sociologia Internazionale di Gorizia, ISIG). The group was welcomed by the Institute’s Director, Daniele del Bianco, and his research colleague Lorenzo De Sabbata, who first introduced the Institute and its main activities. The non-profit cultural institution, founded in 1968, aims to promote international cooperation and peaceful coexistence through research, planning, consultancy and training. Through the presentation and subsequent Q&A session, participants were also able to take a look at how a local organisation can become an important actor at a regional and international scale.
The guests, divided into three small groups, were then asked to do a practical exercise. The “marshmallow challenge” was a playful way for the study tour participants to learn the necessary elements for a successful collaboration, such as iterative approach or free knowledge sharing. This was followed by a brief theoretical overview of good democratic governance, with a particular focus on bridging the democratic deficit in the context of cross-border governance. To illustrate the theory, the ISIG experts shared more details on another aspect of the European Capital of Culture tender, which had already been discussed in the morning, and how different social groups were involved in the preparation of the tender documents through a series of consultations.
The delegation’s day ended with a surprise picnic on the beach and swimming.
On the morning of the third day, the group met with representatives of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region, where the programme started with a welcome speech by Sandra Sodini, Director of the Region’s International Relations and European Programming Department. The participants were then introduced to the activities of the region in support of cross-border cooperation, the projects of the Informest and the work of the Walk for Peace Foundation. The morning also provided an opportunity to answer a number of professional and organisational questions.
The afternoon bike rides to two of GO EGTC’s ITIs (Salute/Zdravstvo and Isonzo/Soča) were cancelled due to rainy weather, so the group took a bus to the completed bridge, where the warming sunshine allowed them to learn further details about the project implementation.
On the final day, the group participated in a guided tour of the Hungary-related World War I memorial sites. The tour guide was Tamás Pintér, director of the Non-profit Foundation for Research of the Great War and editor-in-chief of the Great War Blog. At the Hungarian war monument in Sveta Gora (Monte Santo), the memorials, trenches and museum of Monte San Michele and San Martino del Carso, the group commemorated the events of the war with the help of the historian, which further highlighted the importance of cross-border cooperation, mutual understanding and solidarity. The historian, who has been researching the region for decades, made a compelling connection between the past, present and the future, and showed how the narrative of a bloody conflict can be used to build peaceful relations. Once, a research in San Martino del Carso led to the garden of the family house of local resident Marino Visintin, as it was one of the bloodiest sites of the Battle of Doberdo – although the present village community knew nothing about it. However, as a result of long years of research, Marino Visintin is now himself fostering the memory of the battle around his house, restoring the remains of the posts, and also contributed to placing an information board there, from courtesy of the Meritum Association of Szeged. He also recently placed two small memorials in the garden. Commemoration turned into further action when, in cooperation with the Great War Foundation, he set up a scholarship in memory of his son, Roberto Visintin, to support university students in Hungary. It provided a significant help to young people for the third time in 2022.
After the walk on the site, the group together with the Archbishop of Transylvania, Gergely Kovács, the Mayor of Doberdo, Fabio Vizintin and the founder of the local museum, Gianfranco Simonit, tied a national ribbon to the gate at the Capella Ungherese, or Hungarian Chapel in Doberdo del Lago, to pay tribute to the war heroes. The study tour ended with a joint lunch and then the journey home.
CESCI remains committed to organising new knowledge transfer and networking events for its members, thus contributing to grow their experiences in other border regions and to the establishment of new partnerships.
