Milan joined a literature circuit which includes Dublin, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Prague and Baghdad.
Meanwhile, Alba, in Piedmont, was recognised for its gastronomy, Pesaro, in Le Marche, for its music and the Tuscan city of Carrara for its crafts.
The new entries raised the number of Italian cities on the list to nine.
Other Italian locations already part of the network include: Rome (Lazio) for cinema, Fabriano (Le Marche) for crafts, Turin (Piedmont) for design, Bologna (Emilia-Romagna) for music, and Parma (Emilia-Romagna) for gastronomy.
Milan’s Culture Councillor, Filippo Del Corno, expressed pride for his city’s achievement.
“Milan is starting to get the international recognition it deserves as a centre of publishing and literature,” Del Corno told ANSA.
Meanwhile, Pesaro Mayor Matteo Ricci said the UNESCO approval was an extraordinary result for his community.
“We have pursued this and obtained it,” he added.
Ricci also spoke of the acknowledgement as a “turning point” a year before the 150th anniversary of the death of Gioachino Antonio Rossini, the famous composer hailing from Pesaro.
“Finally the circle has closed and we have come out notably reinforced; the UNESCO trademark confers great authority on the city,” Ricci concluded.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova stressed that 19 of the cities recently added to the Creative Cities Network are located in countries that had never been on the list before.
Among the new creative cities are Brasilia (Brazil) and Istanbul (Turkey) for design, Cairo (Egypt) for crafts, and two American cities, despite the US’ decision to leave UNESCO: Kansas City for music and San Antonio for gastronomy.
Launched in 2004, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network aims to foster international cooperation with and between cities committed to investing in creativity as a driver for sustainable urban development, social inclusion and cultural vibrancy.
With ANSA
