Gibellina named Italian Capital of Contemporary Art for 2026

Gibellina, a Sicilian city rebuilt following the 1968 earthquake, has been named the first Italian Capital of Contemporary Art for 2026. The designation, under the project title ‘Portami il futuro’ (Bring me the future), aims to use art as a tool for social regeneration and to combat depopulation. Artistic director Andrea Cusumano emphasizes that the goal is to integrate art into the daily lives of residents rather than creating a static open-air museum.

In a related celebration of the city's history, students from the ITET Garibaldi fashion institute in Marsala secured second place in a national silk contest held at the Museo della Seta di Como. Their project, titled ‘Libro tessile di Gibellina’ (Textile Book of Gibellina), used silk to narrate the memory of the earthquake and the subsequent cultural rebirth of the Belice Valley through art and architecture.