Bergamo and Brescia, the 2023 Italian capital of culture
Bergamo Brescia

Bergamo and Brescia, the 2023 Italian capital of culture

Brescia, one of the most beautiful and fascinating cities near Lake Garda, is together with Bergamo, the Italian Capital of Culture 2023.

Brescia, one of the most beautiful and fascinating cities near Lake Garda, is together with Bergamo, the Italian Capital of Culture 2023. The theme of the project, "The illuminated city", speaks not by chance in the singular, and not in the plural, precisely because it represents the desire to unite Bergamo and Brescia in a single path. A fantastic adventure that will characterize the whole of 2023 and will offer ideas, events, culture, industrial innovation, history and unexpected natural beauty all to be discovered.

The program will include a series of major cultural events, such as the staging of large scale operas, the restoration of historic sites, and the development of public art. It will also include a range of smaller-scale activities such as concerts, workshops, and debates.

The cities have already begun the process of creating a unified cultural program, with the aim of building connections between the two cities and beyond. The aim is to inspire and engage citizens and visitors of Bergamo and Brescia, while also promoting the cultural heritage of the Lombardy region.

The aim of the project is to help foster a sense of shared identity and promote the culture of the region.

Overall, the Bergamo-Brescia 2023 project will help to promote the region of Lombardy as a cultural and economic hub in Europe, helping to attract more tourists and businesses and to create economic opportunities for the local population.


Bergamo and Brescia, 2023 projects

Four thematic areas for initiatives and events


The city of hidden treasures - a territory rich in history, which wants to enhance not only the historical monuments, archaeological complexes and historic centers unique in the world, with routes that leave the cities and the usual tourist itineraries to form a common renewed and rethought landscape heritage .

The city of nature – is the territory that takes charge of rethinking and redesigning the relationship of individuals, communities and businesses with natural resources; redesign the relationships between settlement methods, forms of consumption, transport systems, urban production activities and environmental resources in a sustainable key.

The city that invents – is the set of projects featuring companies and their representative associations, the Chambers of Commerce, Universities, technical training bodies, which together with the artistic and cultural institutions qualify the territory as capable of value the talents of innovation and best practices to build their own future.

Culture as a cure - theme linked to the dramatic experience of the pandemic. An experience that brought structural fragility to light and brought the question of care to the center of the debate not only in Italy but also at a European level. Culture is the starting point, a common good and a millenary heritage of inestimable value for redesigning prevention and socialisation, for putting people's lives and well-being at the centre, for building true and community relationships.

Bergamo and Brescia, the 2023 Italian capital of culture