A dancer in Europe Sq., a part of the celebrations for the European Capital of Tradition
Maja Murenc
There’s a recurring joke amongst Slovenian journey execs: “Twenty years in the past, our nation’s tourism advertising and marketing technique was saying, ‘Slovenia exists!’” They chortle about this. “Ten years in the past, it was, ‘Come hike in Slovenia.’” To make certain, mountain climbing, nature and mountain sports activities proceed to be huge attracts. However now the tourism leaders are working to indicate off their tradition.
The clearest manifestation of that’s the funding in placing ahead Nova Gorica as a cultural capital. The candidacy labored, and for 2025, the far-western Slovenian metropolis of Nova Gorica and its Italian neighbor, Gorizia, are sharing the title of European Capital of Tradition.
After all, regional “capitals of no matter” are a advertising and marketing ploy, a considerably made-up cause for individuals to go to. However that doesn’t imply they don’t work. The designation displays each cities’ inherent cultural richness and their dedication to placing on a strong programming schedule for the remainder of this yr—artwork exhibitions, live shows, meals and wine occasions—that makes them particularly fascinating to go to.
Nova Gorica
David Verlič
It is also a giant symbolic deal as a result of not solely is it the primary time two cities in numerous nations have shared this designation but in addition due to the actual historical past of those two cities. Though the entire space was as soon as a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Nova Gorica and Gorizia spent a part of the Twentieth century in numerous realities. For practically six a long time after World Struggle II, they have been separated by a barrier much like the Berlin Wall—a museum paperwork the ingenious methods individuals smuggled blue denims, laundry detergent and pornography—which was dismantled solely in 2004, when Slovenia joined the European Union.
That fence ran throughout what’s now the open Transalpina Sq. (or Europe Sq. in Slovenian), the location of the kickoff final month. Locals marched in parades, presidents and ministers from each nations spoke concerning the “borderlessness” and European values of the endeavor, and everybody moved to the Slovenian facet for a celebration with dwell music, mild mapping and acrobats descending the partitions of municipal buildings. Even after everybody went house, new strolling and biking paths stay as hyperlinks between the 2 cities.
The Delicate Attraction Of Nova Gorica
The Italian half of the mixed municipality, Gorizia, has lots of the anticipated northern Italian charms. It’s recognized regionally because the “sleeping magnificence” for its low-key grandeur. The pastel-colored buildings of Piazza Vittoria date from the 18th century, and its central Fountain of Neptune was designed by the architect of a Viennese fortress. A medieval fortress continues to be perched on a hill above. Basic trattorias—like Alla Luna, which was established in 1876 and seems to have modified little since—have red-and-white cloths on the tables, crocheted cozies on the grappa bottles and hearty menus of prosciutto, candy gnocchi in Mitteleuropa model and sautéed Fruilian salami with yellow polenta. (However these seem beside historically Slavic dishes like goulash.)
The Artwork Circle gallery in Nova Gorica
Courtesy of the gallery
Nova Gorica, the “new” Gorizia, lacks the burden of all that historical past. The Yugoslavian authorities constructed it after World Struggle II in response to the lack of Gorizia to Italy. The mid-Twentieth-century socialist structure is much less clearly lovely—although the grasp plan is the work of Edvard Ravnikar, a pupil of Le Corbusier—however the type of its operate finally grows on you. Its gridded streets are arrayed round inexperienced areas, and open plazas are facilities of life between the utilitarian buildings.
There’s quantity of artwork combined in, thanks partly to modern artist Klemen Brun, who was born in Nova Gorica and has spent a lot of his profession nurturing town’s artistic scene. In 2011 he launched the Artwork Circle, a world competition of visible arts in and across the metropolis, whose visiting artists contribute works that stay a part of town’s cloth. A key half was the creation of practically two dozen artwork embassies, by which curators from varied nations take over Slovenian (and Italian) areas to mount their artists’ exhibitions, however he additionally gathers artists, hosts residencies and organizes occasions in his studio and exhibition house on the fringe of town.
His work—nudes within the breakfast room—are a part of the visible language of Nova Gorica’s most intriguing place to remain, the DAM boutique lodge and restaurant. The bedrooms are darkish and seductive, with curvaceous armchairs, tufted velvet cushions and Helmut Newton pictures. Proprietor Uroš Fakuč, who admits his business-partner father was a bit stunned by the artwork assortment, can also be the chef of the restaurant, which holds one Michelin star for its creative tasting menus utilizing strongly Slovenian components.
Nature And Tradition In The Vipava Valley
Nova Gorica is compelling sufficient for a couple of days by itself, says Slovenian journey designer Uršula Kordiš, but it surely additionally is sensible as a jumping-off level for exploring the intersection of the character that Slovenia is understood for and the tradition that it’s working to advertise. Her firm, Wanderlux Journeys, is dedicated to showcasing her nation as a luxurious vacation spot, and to that finish, she’s eager on itineraries that mix town with a number of the loveliest valleys round it (and never solely the well-known Soča one).
The artists’ village of Pedrovo
Janez Marolt
Simply exterior town, the Vipava Valley continues to be referred to as a premier spot for mountain climbing, biking and climbing, but it surely’s additionally interesting for slower pursuits. The city of Vipava is understood—at the least by the tourism promoters—because the “Venice of Slovenia” for its waterways and bridges, and whereas this can be a stretch, it’s not with out its charms.
There’s loads of artwork, after all. Along with the Artwork Circle tasks, there are exhibitions from Slovenian artists on the partitions and within the gallery at Gostilna Krhne, a 100-year-old inn within the heart of city that serves a superb informal bistro menu and regional wines from small producers. Within the close by mountain city of Pedrovo—itself impeccably preserved—Hiša Artes is a powerful modern artwork gallery with a handful of trendy serviced residences connected.
Theodosius Forest Village
Miran Kambic
After which there’s the tradition of hospitality. The trendy glamping lodge Theodosius Forest Village is a group of 9 modern cabins—principally wooden but in addition one attractive mirrored dice—surrounded by beech, spruce, and firs. Some have non-public saunas inside whereas others have particular inox Jacuzzis on their terraces, and all have entry to a lavish breakfast of native sweets, savory pies, sausages and particular teas comprised of forest vegetation.
Different meals highlights embrace the artisanal cheeses produced from natural goat milk at Čilčevi in Pedrovo, and the decidedly funky ones at Golden Ring Cheese, that are comprised of uncooked cow milk from the mountains and aged for 4 months in century-old tunnels that have been deserted by the Italian military.
Golden Ring cheeses within the bunker
Courtesy of the corporate
Lunch within the cheesemakers’ mountaintop restaurant—a sampling of cheese, maybe adopted by a comforting bowl of jota, the native bitter cabbage and bean stew (far tastier than it sounds)—is an easy delight. However the valley is house to playful high quality eating as properly: Gostilna pri Lojzetu, within the Seventeenth-century Zemono manor home, is the Michelin-starred showplace for Tomaž Kavčič, one of many best-known cooks in Slovenia and a grasp of mixing the normal and the fashionable.
His seven-course menu is relentlessly seasonal—a server may level out that the unusually crunchy trout eggs have been harvested the exact same day, or that the rose-shaped radicchio is a particular deal with solely in February—but it surely all the time wraps up with a theatrical “gin and tonic” pre-dessert that covers the desk in a cloud of juniper-scented dry ice.
Artwork And Wine In The Brda Hills
Whereas the tourism cheerleaders are calling Vipava the Venice of Slovenia, they’re likening the Brda Hills to Tuscany. They’ve a degree—it’s a area of vineyards, the northernmost olive groves in Europe and charming villages—but it surely’s additionally a disservice to a spot that has a personality (and a a lot smaller scale) that’s all its personal. And a part of that character is once more its artwork and tradition.
Ceramicist Ivan Skubin in his atelier
Courtesy of STB
The Artwork Circle maintains a dozen embassies there, together with a fantastic German one on the family-owned Ščurek vineyard and visitor home (the place even the barrels within the getting older room are adorned, Klemen Brun’s works grasp on some partitions, and others are adorned with big-eyed portraits by Slovenian painter Rudi Skočir), however they aren’t the one artwork recreation on the town.
On the fringe of the hills, sculptor and ceramicist Ivan Skubin, who has exhibited in Paris, maintains his atelier, the place he produces works of elemental, ethereal magnificence. Additional into the area, there are tasks like Villa Eva, which not solely produces award-winning olive oil but in addition has a small visitor home crammed with eclectic furnishings from the house owners’ intensive travels round Asia.
Šmartno
Courtesy of STB
It isn’t solely the worldwide and the worldly that inform the Brda Hills. The picturesque, extremely preserved village of Šmartno was an essential strategic protection submit between the sixteenth and 18th centuries, and at the moment the fortified settlement is a cultural monument, all slim streets, medieval bell towers and comfortable hideaways. There’s a cute little museum that depicts a standard home, however its dwelling historical past is even higher. The proprietor of the tavern Hiša Marica nonetheless serves his grandmother’s recipes, and he’s justifiably happy with the grass-fed prosciutto that he matures for 4 years earlier than piling it onto plates within the fireplace-warmed eating room.
Down the highway, the Artwork Circle’s Italian embassy is ready up within the Al di Là visitor home, the place the comfortable rooms and bigger house are crammed with historic particulars, like textural stone partitions, and glossy ones, comparable to floating glass-and-metal staircases and modern artworks. It’s a mixture that works fantastically, very similar to the character and tradition, the historical past and current, and the native and worldwide that collectively make Nova Gorica a spot value figuring out.
MORE FROM FORBESForbesSlovenia’s Subsequent Wine Area To Know Is StyriaBy Ann AbelForbesWhy Ptuj, Slovenia, Belongs On Your Journey Want ListBy Ann AbelForbesTegernsee Is The Subsequent Alpine Lake To Know—Particularly This Luxurious HotelBy Ann AbelForbesThis Luxurious Lodge Is A Fashionable Match For Bavaria’s Fairytale CastlesBy Ann Abel
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=67e7ebab3c77464fa5b2b43c60dc0e46&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fannabel%2F2025%2F03%2F29%2Fwhy-nova-gorica-slovenia-is-the-next-culture-destination-to-know%2F&c=440816462143585166&mkt=de-de
Writer :
Publish date : 2025-03-29 02:36:00
Copyright for syndicated content material belongs to the linked Source.