Bassano del Grappa submits its nomination dossier for Italian Capital of Culture 2029: “Bassano 2029. Culture has a human intelligence”

Bassano del Grappa has officially submitted its nomination dossier for Italian Capital of Culture 2029, completing a key stage in a process launched by the city and developed together with nearly 200 organisations –including institutions, associations, businesses and citizens–, supported by more than 40 municipalities across three provinces in the foothill area of Veneto and by 28 organisations brought together in the Promoting Committee.

“Culture has a human intelligence” is the idea at the heart of Bassano del Grappa’s nomination for Italian Capital of Culture 2029: a vision that places people and their ability to shape change at its centre. In the age of artificial intelligence, culture embraces the possibilities offered by technology, while retaining imagination and critical thinking as tools for questioning its meaning and choosing its purposes. Nestled between mountains and plains, Bassano has built its identity through exchange, developing a knack for turning ideas into tangible works. From the Palladian Bridge to the publishing legacy of the Remondini family, its ingenuity has been embedded in objects and in the landscape. The nomination draws on this heritage to bring its knowledge back into circulation and make it the basis for new experiences.

The project submitted to the Ministry is structured around four pillars: Bassano at Twenty, which explores the aspirations of younger generations; The City of Images, which celebrates the legacy of Jacopo Bassano, Canova and the Remondini family while exploring contemporary visual culture; Geography of History, which connects memory, landscape and identity; and Workshops of the Third Millennium, which interprets the city’s manufacturing tradition as a laboratory for creative innovation. Within this framework, the TAG – Tavolo Agenda Giovani Panel and the regeneration of Palazzo Bonaguro invite young people to play an active role in the city’s decision-making and public life, experimenting with forms of participation in which the expression of their ambitions is accompanied by a sense of responsibility towards the community.

At the heart of the dossier is a programme in which major exhibitions and original productions are combined with initiatives and projects developed through dialogue with the local area. Cultural workshops open up places to new possibilities of use, while urban regeneration, tourism, social inclusion, innovation, mobility and public works all contribute to creating the conditions for its implementation. The Ponte Vecchio, the symbol of the nomination, a covered square and a meeting place, encapsulates its ambition: to make Bassano an accessible city, looking towards the future. A city where heritage continues to generate knowledge and where the relationships forged through culture can endure beyond 2029.

The graphics and layout of the dossier were designed by Dinamica Media S.r.l.