The challenge of La Maddalena (and Sardinia): Italian capital of culture in 2024

The incomparable transparency of the sea at Porto della Madonna or Budelli or Spargi this time will be just a side dish of extra luxury. And if you please. La Maddalena, candidate for the Italian capital of culture 2024, offers a heritage often unknown to the Sardinians themselves. Yet the great story has repeatedly passed in what was proudly called little Paris, through the traces of the characters who, for better or for worse, wrote it, from Napoleon to Nelson, from Garibaldi to Mussolini. The island today, after the never healed wound of the failed G8 that should have compensated the Maddalenini for the heavy tribute paid to military servants, is launching into a fascinating challenge accompanied - from an institutional point of view - by all of Sardinia, from the Region to the Province of Sassari, from Anci to as many as 73 Municipalities that have so far given their adhesion to the candidacy. Last Tuesday the dossier was presented with the project in detail covered by absolute confidentiality. It will not be an easy battle: the competition is fierce and includes 24 cities, including Pesaro, Syracuse, Viareggio, which will be reduced to 10 by January 18, while the jury's decision will arrive on March 15 and then the official designation.

THE APPLICATION

"Since the election campaign we have set among our objectives that of encouraging cultural and school tourism, an excellent basis for extending the season", explains Mayor Fabio Lai: "This is an important opportunity to tell about our magnificent land. We are also proud of representing Sardinia, of the support of the Region and of 73 mayors but also of the national Enpa, which was founded by Garibaldi, and by an archistar like Stefano Boeri ». The candidacy also has international support with the Corsican towns of Bonifacio, on the other side of the Strait that divides the islands, and Ajaccio. Optimists? Lai is not unbalanced: "We are confident, we respect others but we believe that ours is a strong candidacy". Historical memory and landscape intertwine in the archipelago and are reflected in the project of the capital of culture. The National Park was among the first to support the candidacy. "The landscape is an integral part of the culture of a place and this is a qualifying point of our proposal", explains the councilor for Culture Gianvincenzo Belli: "We believe that this initiative will bring great interest for a long period around La Maddalena with a great involvement ".

HISTORY

"La Maddalena - periphery of the suburbs - is actually in the center of the Mediterranean, of the Mare Nostrum, and is a bridge between the cultures that have shaken this sea," writes President Emiliano Deiana in the announcement of Anci Sardegna's support for project. In the sea of the archipelago different routes intertwine starting from those of history. The best known and most profound signs are those linked to the Garibaldi epic and the exile of the leader in Caprera. The Hero's house is the most visited museum in Sardinia and is part of a single system with the Memorial in the spectacular Forte Arbuticci. But not only. In the town hall, on a small base, one of the cannonballs that Napoleon Bonaparte fired from the island of Santo Stefano towards La Maddalena is still preserved. The hero of the local resistance is the helmsman Domenico Millelire who forced the future emperor of France to retreat. More peaceful is the souvenir of Oratio Nelson who considered the Sardinian island the most strategic of Malta but was not listened to: he donated two silver candelabra still kept in the parish of Santa Maria Maddalena. Among the many leaders, the man who symbolized anarchist thought also passed through these parts: Michail Bakunin was a guest of Garibaldi in 1864 in Caprera defined as «a true democratic and social republic». Villa Weber, on the mother island, is instead known for having hosted, during a period of imprisonment, Benito Mussolini who here entrusted the confession of his sins to Monsignor Capula, a powerful parish priest until the nineties and keeper of many secrets of the island. including those that led to the establishment of the American base, emblematic of the Cold War years.

THE CINEMA ROUTES

Famous cinema routes also pass through the archipelago. In an old house on the island of Santa Maria, many of the stories of the screenwriter Franco Solinas were written, cornerstones of Italian cinema of the 1950s and 1960s, from “Quien Sabe” to the “Battle of Algiers”. Michelangelo Antonioni, in 1964, brought the brazen beauty of the islands to the big screen with the set of “Deserto Rosso”, the master's first color film, Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. And, also in Santa Maria, Roberto Benigni wrote part of the screenplay for the Oscar-winning film “Life is beautiful”. In the cemetery of La Maddalena, a rough granite tombstone reminds us that Gian Maria Volontè rests here. Suggestions and intangible assets of an aspiring capital of culture because beyond the sea there is more. Even when it is the sea of the La Maddalena archipelago.