The goal is high but, according to the numbers, not unattainable. The threshold of 100 thousand visitors in a year in the castle of Gorizia, now that it has been reopened after two years of closure, could become a reality even before the European Capital of Culture 2025. It is very difficult to register them already this year, but the will of the municipal administration is to double the influx of 50 thousand tickets sold before the pandemic. In the meantime, this morning the party was all for the reopening and will continue in the afternoon.

A large delegation of institutions, councilors, city and regional councilors and the first tourists took part in the preview tour of the renovated premises. The one who symbolically opened the lock was the mayor Rodolfo Ziberna, recalling the investment made of 300 thousand euros for the new digital equipment installed in the rooms, thanks to the work of Studio Azzurro and Hgv. A further 400 thousand euros in this sense are expected thanks to the Bando Borghi and then recalled that "the area will soon be enriched with the castle climb" without however risking dates.

Among the new features, the digital story of some chapters and city legends. The story of the White Lady is unmissable, but also the deeds of the Counts of Gorizia and the battle between them and the patriarch Bertando in the Middle Ages. This chapter is told by a long graphic projection in the hall of the Provincial States, animating the walls with scenes of the siege of the manor by the Friulian army. Further digital works will be revealed when the second floor is also accessible, for now off-limits due to the presence of the wooden staircase that requires further certifications.

As anticipated by Leonardo Sangiorgi of Studio Azzurro, however, on the top floor there will be an animated model that will tell the story of the territory: "We leave a lot of room for visitors to imagine how the events continued. There will be the possibility of changing the contents and telling new chapters". The historian Alessandro Quinzi reconstructed those events, with a long research in the State Archives to study in depth the chronicles of the time. Another novelty are the interactive screens with some famous faces of the County.

Among them, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, along with many other names that are now hosted in the conference room of the manor and that themselves tell their mark on the city. The visit - which will be guided and free this weekend - begins in the kitchen and then crosses the Corte dei Lanzi, the heart of the manor, and arrives at the Carceri or Sala dei Cavalieri where you "meet" a hologram with the appearance of a friendly jester who tells you what weapons were from the late medieval period to more modern times.

For fans of tales and legends, the White Lady materializes on the threshold of the cell, narrating her terrible life. The stone staircase leads to the main floor, which also hosts the exhibition “Theatrum Instrumentorum”, a large selection of reproductions of musical instruments from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance to the Baroque Age, in perfect working order. Emanuela Uccello, curator of the site and art historian, will follow the various groups in these days. There will therefore be an educational space on the art of war.

In the antechamber of the Salone degli Stati Provinciali, thanks to virtual reality via viewers, you enter the history of the Borgo, drawn and told like an ancient tapestry. An installation that the Duke of Aosta would hardly have imagined seeing, when he reopened the site in 1937 after the reconstruction following the Great War, and which aims to make the manor even more representative of the history of the region, including that of the Slovenian Gorizia area, as also demonstrated by the presence of the deputy mayor of Nova Gorica, Marko Tribušon.

To enrich everything, the presence of the reenactors of the Drummers Group. "This is the opportunity for Gorizia to take the train of rebirth - commented the regional councilor for Heritage, Sebastiano Callari - As a citizen I am worried, because I see the administrators working but the city perhaps has not understood the importance of what is about to happen". From here, the appeal to all political forces to "do their part, there will be time for political battles". In the morning, a good part of the opposition members were also present.

Timothy Draws
Source: The Gorizia – 01/07/2023