For three days, Gorizia and Nova Gorica will serve as a laboratory for dialogue and coexistence. The GO! 2025 Forum Cittadellapace, Cittadelfuturo (City of Peace, City of the Future) will bring together institutions, artists, and citizens in a program of meetings, performances, and round tables dedicated to the theme of coexistence and peace as the foundation of European culture. During the Forum, over 60 organizations from the territories of Gorizia, Nova Gorica, and Šempeter-Vrtojba will convene to imagine and design the "City of the Future" together, following the method of Demopractic Work (Opera Demopratica), conceived by Paolo Naldini, director of the Pistoletto Foundation. Thus, it is a participatory conference that, inspired by the principles of Preventive Peace, aims to transform the ideas of local communities into concrete actions, through a process of "mapping, forum, and worksite" (cantiere), the three phases of Demopraxy.

Demopractic Work: Democracy That Becomes Action

Demopraxy (Demopraxia) originates from the union of dêmos (people) and prâxis (action): a model where democracy is not limited to voting but becomes a daily and concrete practice in community management. Every organization—association, company, foundation, institution—is already a "micro-government" that makes decisions with a real impact on people's lives. Since 2015, the Demopractic Work has taken shape in over thirty cities worldwide, from Havana to Melbourne, Rome to Seoul, and this year, it arrives in Gorizia as a tool to build a cross-border laboratory of Peace and coexistence.

Thematic Tables and Participatory Method

Each organization involved in the Forum will nominate its own delegate, who will participate in one of ten thematic tables (Economy, School, Urban Planning, Demography, Culture, Bureaucracy, City of Peace, Geopolitics, Sport, and "Intertwining Bonds" managed by students). The work, coordinated by facilitators trained by the Forum's Embassies, will alternate with plenary sessions, generating a collective process of comparison and co-design. The elaborated proposals will converge in the worksite (cantiere), which will continue over the subsequent twelve months, monitoring the results and launching new actions until the next edition of the event.

The Cross-Border Third Paradise

During the Forum, the special project of the Cross-Border Third Paradise will come to life, a symbol conceived by Michelangelo Pistoletto in 2002 that has become a manifesto for social and environmental regeneration. Students from the universities and academies of Gorizia and Nova Gorica will transform the ideas from the tables into a shared design concept, which will be publicly presented on October 25th, concluding the Forum. The goal is to create a cross-border trinamic symbol that will cross the border between Italy and Slovenia, transforming geography into a sign of union, dialogue, and mutual exchange.

Program and Public Appointments

The program includes moments dedicated to the organizations, invited to participate in the Forum following the territory mapping conducted in recent months, and public moments to which the entire city is invited to participate. For further updates and information, please consult the official Forum website.

Program of Public Events:

• October 23rd, 6:30 PM – Lectio Magistralis on thinking about a City of the Future with Paolo Verri, General Director of the Fondazione Arnaldo e Alberto Mondadori.
• October 24th, 6:00 PM – Institutional greetings with Rodolfo Ziberna, Mayor of Gorizia, Samu Turel, Mayor of Nova Gorica, and Milan Turk, Mayor of Šempeter-Vrtojba. Followed by a conference with Michelangelo Pistoletto and Andrea Illy.
• October 25th, 6:00 PM – Conclusions of the Forum with Rodolfo Ziberna, Mayor of Gorizia, and Paolo Naldini, Director of the Pistoletto Foundation Cittadellarte. Followed by a conference with Antonella Nonino and Patrizia Moroso.



A European Worksite for Peace and the Future

The GO! 2025 Forum is not just an event, but a cultural and political worksite that will continue to live on after the three days, with the task of transforming the visions that emerged into shared and lasting practices. Indeed, as Michelangelo Pistoletto states: "Art, through Demopractic Work, becomes a tool for participation and collective responsibility. It is the people who, by uniting in practice, build the city of the future".