The March for Europe

A simultaneous march in European cities divided by national borders and projects that turn border-crossing into art.

From 1 to 10 May, Nova Gorica and Gorizia will host the second of the four mass events of the European Capital of Culture 2025 Nova Gorica - Gorizia. The 10-day series of events in the borderless area next to Europe Square will bring together culture, sport and entertainment in outdoor venues. In a unique way, it will unite people from both sides of the border, with a diverse official and accompanying programme.

DAILY SCHEDULE:

1. 5. 2025, 8:00–23:00, Europe Square

BORDERLESS FRIENDSHIP WALK with BORDERLESS PARTY

Join us for the unique Friendship Walk – 2 Cities, 1 Heart, which will symbolically connect Nova Gorica and Gorizia for the third year in a row. Enriched with other sports and cultural interventions, the event revives the tradition of the legendary walk from the 1970s and 1980s, when thousands of people crossed the border once a year without being checked. Today, as the two cities are building a new future together, the march remains a symbol of collaboration, healthy lifestyle and community. You can choose among the 7, 12 or 16 km route, all while enjoying a rich programme! Numerous sports associations from both sides of the border will also participate in the event, as well as delegations from sister city Klagenfurt and from Chemnitz, the other European Capital of Culture of 2025.

Hourly schedule:

• 8:00–10:00: participant gathering and registration,
• 9:00: official opening of the Borderless Friendship Walk with opening speeches by both Mayors,
• 9:30: start of the march and other events with video broadcast,
• 12:00–14:00: finish of the various sporting events in Europe Square,
• 14:00–15:00: award ceremony with cultural programme and group photo,
• 15:30–23:00: borderless party with Klangkarussel (AT), Spiller (IT), Vanillaz (SI/HR), Tim Urbanya (SI), Roli (SI) and young talented DJs.

You can register for the Friendship March here.

1.–4. 5. 2025, Kolodvorska pot, Nova Gorica

CROSSINGS 

With the Crossings art project, the BridA collective creates an in-between space that leads visitors into a unique immersive experience beyond sensory perception. The project emphasises crossing borders and borderlessness, creating a new social reality between the physical and the virtual world. Using VR technology, lighting and artistic performance, a completely new co- is built in interaction with the architecture. Organised by BridA, which has already brought the Moon and Mars to the centre of Nova Gorica.

​2. 5. 2025, Europe Square and EPIC district

BORDERLESS BASKETBALL

A 3x3 basketball tournament for Slovenian and Italian teenagers aged 11–17, in cooperation with Slovenian and Italian sports associations, complemented by a presentation of the SPF GO! HOOP project. In addition to the tournament, there will be a dunking competition, a three-point contest, cheerleading performances and a music programme with a DJ and a band.

3. 5. 2025, 10:00–22:00, Europe Square and EPIC district

BORDERLESS STREET

Breakdance is a style of street dance originating from the 1970s Bronx, New York, and was included in the Summer Olympics programme for the first time last year in Paris. Competitions will be organised for different age categories (U12, U18, 2x2), for both girls and boys, with borderless judges. In addition to the competition, there will be dance performances, DJs and MCs workshops, dance routines by local dance groups, followed by an entertaining programme with a DJ and a band, as well as a graffiti and comics exhibition.

Fresh Lab is a rap group from Nova Gorica, consisting of Ja-Sha, Filip and Staš. DJ Emily will provide the beats. DJ Jacksy is one of the leading DJs in the Slovenian dance community, he has spun at events such as Red Bull Dance Your Style, bast'a'move, Crash The Ground and many more. In addition to DJing, he also produces music and spices up every battle with his own beats and remixes.

​4. 5. 2025, 10.00–22.00, Europe Square and EPIC district

BORDERLESS FOOTBALL / CALCETTO

A 3v3 football tournament and an exhibition match featuring well-known Slovenian and Italian athletes. In addition, there will be a table football tournament ("calcetto") and dance cheerleading performances by local dance troupes, as well as an entertainment programme with DJ and Avtomobili band.

5. 5. 2025, 9:30–18:00, EPIC district

THE PLAYGROUND – My Border Can Turn Into a Balloon

An official programme event from The Playgound project will include creative workshops and board games for children in cooperation with local kindergartens and primary school. The programme will be complemented by an on-site DJ for children in an improved version of the xMobil.​ The programme will also feature students from the Nova Gorica Art High School, who will surprise the parents in the morning with sculptures made from around 1000 eco latex balloons, which will be released into the air at 17:30.

SYUM-BALLO

Presentation of a participatory artwork of three matching parts that remind us of the times when we were brothers and sisters. The project was created by the youth from Ad Formandum, the San Luigi Association and the Ajdovščina People's University.​

6. 5. 2025, 9:30–18:00, EPIC district

BORDERLESS GREEN and LITERARY AND DANCE EVENT IN THE INGEBORG BACHMANN ​DOME

The writer and the dancer will participate in the art installation event in the Ingeborg Bachmann Dome, a gift by the Carinthian Cultural Foundation. The focus of the dance performance will be on moving outward, both literally and figuratively. The performance is inspired by Ingeborg Bachmann's unpublished poetry work entitled Ängste (Fears) from 1945. The artists deal with fragments of texts, its metaphors and associativity, while constantly moving inside and outside the dome.

Maja Haderlap is a bilingual Austrian (Carinthian)-Slovenian poet, writer, and university professor at the University of Klagenfurt. She writes poems, novels, essays, radio plays, drama adaptations and opera texts published in Slovene and German journals. She is best known for her novel Engel des Vergessens (Angel of Oblivion) and her poetry collection langer transit (long passage).

Leonie Humitsch holds a Master's degree in Dance Pedagogy from the University of Vienna and works as a dancer, choreographer and dance teacher. She works under her own dance label feitanz in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and participates in international festivals.

Green Points and Movement official programme will feature a community lunch among trees in EPIC district and creative workshops for children.

7. 5. 2025, guided tour from the EPIC district at 14:00 and 16:00

TREE ORCHESTRA and BulevAR

At 14:00, BulevAR will take us from Europe Square through the physical border points. BulevAR is an app that aims to improve the collaboration between Nova Gorica and Gorizia through technology – online and in physical locations – by building connections on a virtual boulevard between Gorizia and Nova Gorica.

18:00, Park Rafut Amphiteatre, Nova Gorica

TREE ORCHESTRA / SYMPHONIC FOREST

A virtual sound installation in the exotic Rafut Park, developed by the Dresden Symphony Orchestra and artistic director Markus Rindt, will take us through this special place with a guided tour from Europe Square at 16:00, discovering open-ended narratives to the sounds of Schumann's Forest Scenes and a new composition by Matej Bonin.

8. 5. 2025, 11:00–22:00, Europe Square and EPIC district

THE DAY OF BORDERLESS FESTIVALS

All-day event organised by the Nova Gorica Regional Chamber of Crafts and Business in cooperation with the Nova Gorica and Vipava Valley Tourism Institute and local amateur associations, focusing on amateur culture and tastes without borders. The programme will be accompanied by stalls and live music. The Day of Borderless Festivals unites the Festival of Crafts and Entrepreneurship, Tastes without Borders, the Rose Festival, the Festival of Amateur Culture and the announcement of the winners of the Entrepreneurial Wine 2025 competition.

9. 5. 2025, 9:30–13:30, Europe Square and EPIC district

EUROPE DAY

Europe Day with the youth in Europe Square is organised by the Nova Gorica Grammar School in cooperation with three lyceums from Gorizia. Organised in cooperation with the Representation of the European Commission in Slovenia, the diverse programme will include a treasure hunt, an escape room, a cultural programme, a preformance of a high-school band and DJ, as well as stalls.​

20:30–22:00, Europe Square

NE POZABI ME (DIR. BY ANJA MEDVED) FILM PREMIERE

This feature-length documentary film essay is a search for the lost memories of World War II that her grandmother did not tell her. It is a world premiere to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

10. 5. 2025, 20:30–22:00, Europe Square

BORDERLESS BODY – INFERNO ​

The robot-dance performance is part of the official programme of the Borderless Body project, co-produced with the Kersnikova Institute. It is a collaboration between the local MN Dance Company and Inferno authors Louis-Philipp Demers and Bill Vorn for GO! 2025. The performance also includes the audience, who can experience the robotic "skeletons" in action.

You can find out more about the daily programme of the March for Europe on our ad-hoc website go-borderless.eu.

The March for Europe project is part of the official programme of the European Capital of Culture 2025 Nova Gorica - Gorizia and is designed as the second of four mass programme events entitled Stop the City! with great cultural and tourist potential.

The March for Europe is organised by GO! 2025 in cooperation with the City Municipality of Nova Gorica, the Municipality of Gorica, the Nova Gorica Public Institute for Sport, the Nova Gorica Regional Chamber of Crafts and Enterprise, EGTC GO, the Public Institute for Tourism of Nova Gorica and Vipavska dolina and the Public Fund of the Republic of Slovenia for Cultural Activities of Nova Gorica.