FRIENDSHIP MARCH, An event to remember

Unpublished presentation of the documentary video on the FRIENDSHIP MARCH between Gorizia and Nova Gorica.

‘FRIENDSHIP MARCH an event to remember’.

At the Kulturni centre Lojze Bratuž in Gorizia, the video documentary made by Renzo Crobe, a true Gorizian, will be presented. As a passionate video lover, he filmed with his video camera the most salient moments of the FRIENDSHIP MARCH that was held between Gorizia and Nova Gorica from the establishment of the event (6 December 1975): the promoter was the Polisportiva Giovanile Salesiana Isontina, to the realisation of the first march on 21 April 1976.

The foundations of the project were supported by the then Mayors of Gorizia, Dr. Pasquale De Simone and Nova Gorica, Mag. Danilo Bašin, who in a far-sighted manner had laid the first foundations for cross-border cooperation (at the time the border physically and ideologically divided the two cities) starting with the younger generation, despite the difficulties connected with the Iron Curtain. The first march, 21 April 1976, was dedicated exclusively to school children from Gorizia and Nova Gorica up to the age of 17. Records show that 700 children from Gorizia and 120 from Nova Gorica participated.

In the years to come, the number of participants increased year by year until 1985, the tenth year, which saw a massive participation of over 9,000 people, in addition to the children and their families, the entire population of the entire cross-border area, on both sides of the border. The March of Friendship thus became the march of Italian and Slovenian families. The aim of the project ‘MARCHE OF FRIENDSHIP - an event to remember’ is the full intention to give prominence to this important documentary video, which demonstrates what strong and stubborn synergy and will it took to put an end to the border barriers, and thus show that the two cities, Gorizia and Nova Gorica, wished to live in brotherhood, harmony, peace and friendship. It is an objective fact that the FRIENDSHIP MARCH, which started 50 years ago, laid the foundation for what is now the European Capital of Culture Go! 2025, and was able, over the decades, to develop and bring to life the concept that the border could be broken down. 

The event will be held on 19 December 2024 at 11:30 a.m. in the Great Hall of the Kulturni centre Lojze Bratuž in Gorizia and will be open to the local authorities and the entire citizenry. On this occasion, the Mayor of Gorizia, Dr. Rodolfo Ziberna, the Mayor of Nova Gorica, Dr. Samo Turel, and the Mayor of Šempeter-Vrtojba, Dr. Milan Turk, will be presented by Mr. Crobe with the key containing the video. The aim is to make public this wonderful and important testimony that symbolises the union of the two cities, two states, different cultures and languages. The European Capital of Culture GO! 2025 is the fruit of all that has been achieved over the past 50 years, starting with the FRIENDSHIP MARCH! The initiative will be realised with the contribution of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Council.