Palermo was selected by a jury led by Bocconi University Professor Stefano Baia Curioni.
The other finalists were Alghero, Aquileia, Comacchio, Ercolano (Herculaneum), Montebelluna, Recanati, Settimo Torinese, Trento and a group of northern Sicilian towns.
"We've all won," said a jubilant Palermo mayor, Leoluca Orlando.
"The most significant cultural asset we uphold is the culture of welcome. We support the right of all human beings to be and remain different, but to be and remain the same."
The jury's citation said "the candidacy is backed by an original project, of high cultural value, great humanitarian scope, strongly and generously aimed at inclusion, permanent training, the creation of capacity and citizenship, without neglecting the valorisation of the heritage and contemporary artistic production".
It concluded that "the project is supported by the principal local institutional and cultural actors and also envisages infrastructural events able to leave a lasting and positive mark; the elements of governance, public-private synergy and economic context, then, help strengthen its sustainability and credibility".
With ANSA
