Nova Gorica - Gorizia Capitale Europea della Cultura 2025

An ancient place of worship and pilgrimage linked to legend A very important place of worship located on the island of Barbana, in the Marano Lagoon, the Sanctuary della Madonna has fascinated visitors and the faithful for centuries. Founded in 582 AD, according to legend, following a violent storm that threatened to destroy the city of Grado, an image of the Madonna appeared transported by the waters that made the storm subside. The patriarch of Aquileia, Grado Elia, thus decided to erect a tomb in thanksgiving to the Virgin. Since then, a community of monks has settled on the island, becoming a venerated place of pilgrimage. Since 1237, the Sanctuary della Madonna della Barbana has been the destination of the Forgiveness procession, a ceremony that takes place every year on the first Sunday of July, and provides for the presence of a procession of boats, in accordance with an ancient revolt to the Madonna to save Grado from the plague.

A golfing weekend in a lush resort Can visitors really unwind while playing golf on a course surrounded by greenery in the Collio Goriziano with a unique view of a 13th-century estate? They certainly can, just a few kilometres from Gorizia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, thanks to the Castello Di Spessa Golf & Country Club. An 18-hole course designed in 2005 by architect Giacomo Cabrini, suitable for both beginners and experienced players, flanked by a driving range with 20 stations, stretches amidst gentle ups and downs punctuated by the estate's vineyards and olive groves. The Castello Di Spessa Golf & Country Club is an exclusive complex where golfers can spend a few days surrounded by nature in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, staying in one of the resort's four facilities near the golf course. In your free time, there is no shortage of options to make the experience even more relaxing, from visits to the castle and the wine cellar to wine tastings, an elegant spa with wine therapy and many nature trails to tackle on foot or by bicycle.

The shoreline of Isola del Sole In the Upper Adriatic, between Trieste and Venice, lies the Spiaggia di Grado: 120,000 square metres of sun-kissed beach. The resort is a popular destination among both Italians and foreign visitors, who for more than a century have enjoyed spending their holidays at this family-friendly beach, where you can enjoy moments of relaxation in total safety. The area’s main attraction is its wonderful weather, as it is completely south-facing and bathed by the warm rays of the sun throughout the day. The resort’s vocation for tourism and its tradition of hospitality dates all the way back to the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, when the destination was highly coveted for its exceptional microclimate and resulting health benefits. The coastline is divided into four beaches, all characterised by fine sand and enveloped by well-tended green flora that offers plenty of shady areas. Since 1989, the seaside has been awarded the FEE Blue Flag thanks to its pure waters, and the quality of the services offered is recognised by the Italian Paediatricians’ Green Flag.

Oslavia, small hamlet of the city of Gorizia, is located at the eastern end of the Gorizia Collio. What today appear as peaceful vine-growing hills were the scene of a fierce war between November and December of 1915, the fourth battle of the Isonzo. Along the banks of the Isonzo river, the Italian army launched repeated offensives in an attempt to regain control over the Friulian territory, which was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Oslavia Military Memorial was erected in 1938 to a design by architect Ghino Venturi in memory of the Italian and Austro-Hungarian victims of the First World War. A robust circular structure stands in the centre of the monument, flanked by three lateral towers: underneath the main building, a series of tunnels connect a number of subterranean crypts, which hold the remains of the fallen.

A border town symbolising the 20th century A border town in the far north-east of Italy, Gorizia is a symbol of the complex history of 20th-century Europe. Once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, whose legacy is still clearly visible in its historic buildings and gardens, it was annexed to Italy in 1918 and then experienced the dramatic events involving Italy's eastern border during Fascism and the Second World War. At the end of the war, the city lost part of its suburbs to Yugoslavia and was divided by a wall that became one of the symbols of the Iron Curtain. With Slovenia's entry into the European Union in 2004, the barrier was removed, transforming the border into a place of encounter and sharing with Nova Gorica, the part of the city located in Slovenia. And it was precisely this friendship that led them to become, together, the European Capital of Culture 2025. The history of Gorizia can be traced through its museums and gardens, where you can learn about specific aspects of the history of this area and its communities: the Museum of the Great War, the Topographies of Memory Museum, and the Museum of Fashion and Applied Arts. Also worth visiting are the elegant Coronini Cronberg Palace, the synagogue, Piazza Vittoria with its striking Neptune fountain and the splendid Church of St. Ignatius.

The Great War Museum in Gorizia consists of nine exhibition rooms, in which photographs, original objects and multimedia installations recount the experience of the conflict, with particular attention to the human and social aspects. The exhibition aims above all to convey an understanding of everyday life during the war: that of the soldiers, beyond the uniforms they wore, marked by fierce fighting but also by long periods of waiting in the trenches. One of the most evocative installations is the life-size reconstruction of a trench, which visitors can walk through immersed in a realistic soundtrack of gunfire, explosions and screams, capable of conveying the intensity and drama of the front line. The educational approach, combined with a strong emotional involvement, is the key to interpreting the museum, which is designed as a tool for disseminating history and the main social issues related to the First World War. Alongside the traditional “memory” of the conflict, enhanced by the recovery of the most significant artefacts from previous exhibitions, there is an information system designed to offer the public some general and fundamental knowledge.

A living room with a Mitteleuropean flavour, immersed in greenery and ready to tell a story that goes back more than nine centuries. This is how Gradisca d'Isonzo presents itself to visitors, a noble town that, especially from the 16th century onwards, assumed a key role in the defence system set up by the Republic of Venice against the Turkish invasions. In fact, the Serenissima fortified it powerfully, so much so that the historic centre of Gradisca was enclosed in 1479 by a mighty city wall. Gradisca's significant architectural heritage grew with particular momentum under the princes of Eggenberg, between the 17th and 18th centuries. The four centuries of Habsburg influence left a strong historical imprint, which today is combined with a distinct commercial and cultural liveliness. There are many restaurants and eateries, including the regional wine shop 'La Serenissima' where you can taste the best wines of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Just a few metres from the Slovenian border, the small settlement of San Floriano del Collio looms over the picturesque landscape of the Gorizia Collio from the top of a hill, 276 metres above sea level. The battles fought during the First World War, which were particularly fierce in this part of Friuli, damaged much of the artistic heritage of this village, of which only a few architectural elements remain between the two main castles of the settlement, Formentini and Coronini-Tacco. In recent times, the willpower and entrepreneurial spirit of the townspeople have been able to give back to the lands around San Floriano del Collio a wonderfully bucolic aspect, to be experienced while strolling through the vineyards and small groves of fruit trees.

When Count Theodor de la Tour chose the hill of Russiz, in Capriva del Friuli, to introduce some French grape varieties, such as Chardonnay and Sauvignon, into the Collio Goriziano, the landscape of this town on the border with Slovenia must have looked much wilder than it does today. In fact, it is no coincidence that the name Capriva del Friuli derives from the Slovenian kopriva, meaning nettle: it is likely that in times past, the land around this village was populated by large fields of nettle. Today, however, Capriva del Friuli is one of the areas in the north-east where man's intervention has most altered the appearance of the countryside: dozens of hectares of splendid vineyards, arranged along geometric rows, climb the gentle slopes of the Gorizia Collio. After a visit to the old town centre, over whose ancient houses the bell tower of the Church of the Most Holy Name of Mary stands out, travellers can devote moments of shopping and tasting to the prestigious wine cellars located around Capriva del Friuli, such as that of Villa Russiz, heir to the tradition started by Count de la Tour. It only takes a short diversion to reach the Italian-style garden of the Castle of Spessa, a famous aristocratic residence that also hosted Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart's librettist, and the man of letters and adventurer Giacomo Casanova between the 18th and 19th centuries.

Small stone houses and cobbled lanes give the tiny village of Giassico, a hamlet of Cormòns, an old-world charm. The church of S. Stefano Protomartire, which preserves a 15th-century terracotta portal, soars with its elegant bell tower above the medieval buildings. A few steps away, the sober forms of the Manzano palace, a pearl of Friulian rural architecture, are revealed. Between truth and legend, it is said that a group of benandanti (a term that can be translated to 'good walkers') lived among the narrow streets of Jaxico between the 16th and 17th centuries. Members of a small peasant congregation with a pagan cult, the benandanti worshipped fertility and proposed themselves as protectors of the Friulian countryside against the evil spells of the witches. Inimical to the Counter-Reformation Church, which condemned any alternative practice to that promoted by the Vatican, the benandanti were tried by the Inquisition, an institution created to verify the correct application of Catholic orthodoxy.

In no other settlement of the Goriška Collio is the Hapsburg past of this territory, which remained under Austrian control from the beginning of the 16th century until 1914, felt as strongly as in Cormòns. The original nucleus of the settlement developed between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance on the slopes of Mount Quarin, around what is now the Dome of St Adalberto, where a small section of wall once defended the town. The historical centre of Cormòns was then the focus of urban redevelopment between the 17th and 18th centuries, which saw the addition of several beautiful Habsburg-style palaces around Piazza XXIV Maggio, such as Palazzo Locatelli, the seat of the municipality and the Civic Museum of the territory. In the footsteps of Cormòns' Austrian past, the visit can continue to Piazza della Libertà, where you can pay homage to the monument dedicated to Maximilian I, the first foreign monarch in Friuli. The solemn figure of the Habsburg emperor stands out in front of the façade of the Sanctuary of Rosa Mistica, which is reminiscent with its twin bulbous bell towers of a typical Mitteleuropa baroque church. A popular destination for food and wine tourism, the village of Cormòns is a regional reference point for wine production, as well as for the sale of Friulian culinary specialities such as smoked ham, dairy cheeses, radicchio, turnips and asparagus.

Suspended between the land and the sea, Grado rises in the middle of the northernmost of the Adriatic lagoons and boasts more than 1600 years of history, still visible today as you walk along the calli of the ancient Roman castrum, where the early Christian Basilica of Sant'Eufemia and the Basilica of Santa Maria della Grazie stand. An enchanting setting of unquestionable beauty and extraordinary natural wealth, the Grado Lagoon covers 90 square kilometres and includes two nature reserves that safeguard its biodiversity. The calm, clean sea, gently sloping shallow water, numerous fine sandy beaches and good food make this a very safe and protected location. This attention that Grado has always paid to its guests has meant that for 27 consecutive years the resort has been awarded the Blue Flag for environmental quality.

Passing through the Dolegna del Collio area, you come across some of the most picturesque stretches of the Collio Gorizia wine-growing landscape. Halfway between the waters of the Judrio torrent and the Italian border with Slovenia, the area offers unforgettable panoramic views, especially if the chosen itinerary is the "wine and cherry" trail: this tourist route, created in 1963, is lined with vineyards of prized grapes and lush fruit trees, forming a picture postcard image of the Friulian countryside. The nature that inhabits the Plessiva forest, at the southern end of the municipality of Dolegna del Collio, is much more unspoilt and impervious. Ideal for a stroll in any season, here, among the chestnut and oak trees, live wildlife specimens such as roe deer, foxes and hares. For a moment dedicated to the local culture, you can also visit the church of San Leonardoin Dolegna del Collio, in the hamlet of Scriò. The interior is resplendent with 19th-century frescoes by Giacomo Meneghini (alias Jàcun Pitôr), a Friulian artist of the naïve current.