“What joy! I’m really proud.” The personalities interviewed by time.news for the proclamation of Agrigento as the Italian capital of culture for 2025, announced at the Collegio Romano, headquarters of the MIC, by the minister of culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano. From the TV director Michele Guardì to the actor Gianfranco Jannuzzoto the historic doctor of Lampedusa and now MEP Peter Bartolohappiness is unanimous.
“I am legitimately proud of this choice – he exclaims Michele Guardì – Those who live in Agrigento hardly notice its beauty. But looking at it from the outside, as ‘strangers’, the situation changes. When I host my American friends and they look around them they are delighted: they tell me that in the USA a single column of our temples would be enough to transform the place into a highly visited archaeological site and we instead have, even in a small space, a quantity of artistic and archaeological monuments which the whole world dreams of them”, he underlines.
And then, “aside from the monuments, there are the illustrious characters. It would be enough to mention only Empedocles for antiquity or closer to us Louis Pirandello which changed the history of world literature and then Leonard Sciascia until Andrea Camilleri recently disappeared. Agrigento has always been an amazing city and historically it has always been a welcoming place and still is. I remember the character of Gellia who at the time of the Rome of the Caesars ad Akragas as Agrigento was then called, he welcomed, fed and clothed anyone who arrived in the city and came to him. It is no coincidence that the island of Lampedusa is also included in the dossier”.
Guardì continues: “This victory should also be dedicated to Camilleri, who was involved in the previous candidacy of Agrigento. He spent a lot and when he didn’t win he was very disappointed: today, this is also a bit of his victory and it honors the memory of a great Agrigento. And I had the pride of announcing it among the first, during the live TV program ‘Your Facts’ on Rai2 and I have already asked the Rai to be able to organize with Giovanna Flora a prime-time broadcast next season from the Valley of the Temples with the greatest artists, to recall the history, monuments and characters of the city”.
It echoes him Gianfranco Jannuzzo. “It is extraordinary news! The city has an incomparable beauty, from Valley of the Temples to the historical centre. And then, having also entered the island of Lampedusa it gives it an even stronger value, sending out a signal of great civilization”.
“Rightly, the mayor of Agrigento, who is also a doctor, has included the entire province and Lampedusa in particular in the dossier, precisely in a period in which there is no longer a great pride in what the Lampedusans do to help migrants , having instilled in Italians a fear of others that is certainly not present in our DNA – observes Jannuzzo – We have hospitality in our veins: we even venerate it as a patron Saint Calogero who is a black saint, ‘nìuru’ as we say… let alone how far a racist sentiment or an attitude of exclusion can be from us!”.
For Jannuzzo, “this victory represents a point of pride and reinforces a sense of belonging to Agrigento, to Lampedusa, to the whole territory of the province of Agrigento. As an actor, I remember the beautiful theater which is named after our Pirandello. And I dedicated Agrigento an entire show which was entitled ‘Girgenti my love’ precisely to underline the strong sense of belonging to this city, which is also a feeling. I hope that the proclamation of capital of culture will also act as a driving force for tourism for Agrigento which, compared to other Sicilian destinations of excellence such as Palermo, Taormina o Syracuse, is geographically penalised. In short – concludes Jannuzzo – this victory is truly wonderful news”.
Also Peter Bartolo it says “proud for Agrigento Italian capital of culture and for the fact that the project also includes my island of Lampedusa”, underlines the ‘historic’ doctor from Lampedusa and now MEP in the Socialist and Democrat group.
“Delighted for the city, which goes beyond the Valley of the Temples. And delighted for Lampedusawhich has contributed to this victory for all that it has been able to do in all these years in terms of hospitality and the opening of ports and ports: not for nothing – recalls Bartolo – we have the Door by Mimmo Palladino as a monument located in the last strip of Europe to represent a door without an exit and which one enters without distinction of nationality, color and religious faith. This victory will also be an opportunity to relaunch and boost the tourism sector”.
Pietro Bartolo exclaims: “Finally! The great history, the great literature, the culture of Agrigento are recognized along with its great reception. After all, we live by the sea, we are a people of fishermen: and for fishermen, everything that comes from the sea is blessed! Here because Lampedusa it never tires of welcoming, of being a place of encounter and dialogue and of seeking that this sea of ours be a sea of life and not of death”.
(Of Enzo Bonaiuto)