Ora non mi chiedono più dove è la Basilicata.

I have several times made mention of the proposal of Matera as the European Capital of Culture 2019 in my past articles. And here comes the good news that ‘’we’’ have won. When I say we, I mean the whole Basilicata first and then the whole Mezzogiorno in the second place, not only Matera as a city.

The Expo2015 is allocated to a city in the north and now, as a balancing act, we have the European City of Culture awarded to the south.

The government’s policy on the south had been close to nothing regarding ‘‘mezzogiorno’’ so this could be a start for the opening up of the city of Matera, which is one of the most beautiful one in the south, to the whole world.

It is a pride to see Matera winning against such cities as Perugia, Siena, Ravenna and so on. It meant that there is a strong appreciation of Matera as a city. I have personally being able to visit the city of Matera serval times long before this news and the beauty of the city is just stunning. There is no one I have taken to this city who was not impressed. A British friend of mine, who is also a tour operator, had just spent some time in Basilicata and he got literally carried away by Matera, his phone call and email was amongst the dozens I received as soon as the whole world learnt about the selection of Matera as the European City of Culture 2019. Now, I don’t have to say, ‘’I live near Naples’’ when my friends and acquaintances ask me where I live in Italy, I just have to say: ‘’I live near Matera’’. This has been a pain in the neck till today because nobody knows where Basilicata is especially when you are abroad. You necessarily have to mention Naples to be able to locate our region. And you have to almost immediately add that ‘’Potenza is quieter, neater compared to Naples’’ thus justifying yourself as if you have stolen something from someone.

So, Matera has put Basilicata on the map. Where do we go from here then? We have no airport, we have no fast train, our roads are winding and full of land-slides. There are damages and patch works every where. Maybe with this event we may be able to gain the attention of Freccia Rosa and that of Italo. May be we can redo the highway connecting Bari into Matera thus using the Bari Airport. May be we can have a third level airport built between Potenza and Matera, the so called Pista Mattei. We ought to make the best out of this event. We will need to seize the opportunity to turn our future and that of our children around with this event. It is the duty of our officials and politicians to see to this. This is a once in a life time opportunity. We need to allow our invitees to get to our region without too much havoc, we need to connect our region to the rest of the world by train and by plane this would help guarantee the success that the destination worth,

The university should seize the opportunity as well. Faculties such as Archeology and some humanistic studies should gain visibility through this. Our museums should be better exposed and so is all our culture.

Let’s swing it and make the best of it. Congratulations Matera, congratulations Lucania and congratulations Mezzogiorno as a whole.

Enjoy!