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 professionals: “Twenty years in the past, our nation’s tourism advertising technique was saying, ‘Slovenia exists!’” They chuckle about this. “Ten years in the past, it was, ‘Come hike in Slovenia.’” To make certain, mountaineering, 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 ploy, a considerably made-up motive for folks 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 sturdy programming schedule for the remainder of this yr—artwork exhibitions, live shows, meals and wine occasions—that makes them particularly attention-grabbing 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 international locations have shared this designation but additionally 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 an impassable bodily barrier—a museum paperwork the ingenious methods folks 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 positioning of the kickoff final month. Locals marched in parades, presidents and ministers from each international locations spoke concerning the “borderlessness” and European values of the endeavor, and everybody moved to the Slovenian facet for a celebration with reside music, mild mapping and acrobats descending the partitions of municipal buildings. Even after everybody went dwelling, new strolling and biking paths stay as hyperlinks between the 2 cities.
The Refined Appeal Of Nova Gorica
The Italian half of the mixed municipality, Gorizia, has most 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 citadel. A medieval citadel continues to be perched on a hill above. Traditional 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 type and sautéed Fruilian salami with yellow polenta. (However these seem beside historically Slavic dishes like goulash.)
The Artwork Circle gallery in Nova Gorica
Atelje Sempeter
Nova Gorica, the “new” Gorizia, lacks the load 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 stunning—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 blended in, thanks partly to the Artwork Circle, which was based in 2011 as a world pageant of visible arts in and across the metropolis, whose visiting artists contribute works that stay a part of the town’s cloth. A key half was the creation of practically two dozen artwork embassies, wherein curators from varied international locations take over Slovenian (and Italian) areas to mount their artists’ exhibitions, however its administrators additionally collect artists, host residencies and set up occasions in his studio and exhibition area on the fringe of the town.
Work by the Artwork Circle’s creative director, the Nova Gorica–born Klemen Brun—nudes within the breakfast room—are a part of the visible language of the town’s most intriguing place to remain. The bedrooms of the DAM boutique resort are darkish and seductive, with curvaceous armchairs, tufted velvet cushions and Helmut Newton images. Proprietor Uroš Fakuč, who admits his business-partner father was a bit stunned by the artwork assortment, can be the chef of the resort’s restaurant, which holds one Michelin star for its creative tasting menus utilizing strongly Slovenian substances.
Nature And Tradition In The Vipava Valley
Nova Gorica is compelling sufficient for a number of days by itself, says Slovenian journey designer Uršula Kordiš, however it additionally is sensible as a jumping-off level for exploring the intersection of the character that Slovenia is thought 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 the town with a few of the loveliest valleys round it (and never solely the well-known Soča one).
The artists’ village of Pedrovo
Janez Marolt
Simply exterior the town, the Vipava Valley continues to be often called a premier spot for mountaineering, biking and climbing, however it’s additionally interesting for slower pursuits. The city of Vipava is thought—no less than 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 middle 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 formidable modern artwork gallery with a handful of trendy serviced flats connected.
Theodosius Forest Village
Miran Kambic
After which there’s the tradition of hospitality. The fashionable glamping lodge Theodosius Forest Village is a group of 9 modern cabins—largely wooden but additionally 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 constituted 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 constituted 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 dwelling to playful high-quality eating as nicely: 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 standard 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—however it 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 some extent—it’s a area of vineyards, the northernmost olive groves in Europe and charming villages—however it’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 an excellent 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 embellished with big-eyed portraits by Slovenian painter Rudi Skočir), however they aren’t the one artwork sport 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 additionally has a small visitor home full of eclectic furnishings from the homeowners’ in depth 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 immediately the fortified settlement is a cultural monument, all slender streets, medieval bell towers and comfy hideaways. There’s a cute little museum that depicts a conventional home, however its residing 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 cosy rooms and bigger condominium are full of historic particulars, like textural stone partitions, and glossy ones, comparable to floating glass-and-metal staircases and modern artworks. It’s a mix that works superbly, very like the character and tradition, the historical past and current, and the native and worldwide that collectively make Nova Gorica a spot price realizing.
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Publish date : 2025-03-29 02:36:00
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