Germany
Italy
German-Italian town twinning award
On September 17, 2020, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Italian President Sergio Mattarella presented for the first time a price for municipal Cooperation between Germany and Italy announced and awarded in 2021.
The aim of the prize is to make German-Italian commitment visible at the municipal level and to strengthen it through specific projects. Only applications submitted jointly by German and Italian municipalities were considered.
The prize was awarded in four thematic categories: culture, youth and civic engagement, innovation and social cohesion. The project measures of German municipalities are financed by the Federal Foreign Office and the project measures of Italian municipalities by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The aim is to promote cross-border municipal and civic engagement in favor of the common good and to promote peaceful cooperation between both peoples, and in particular to achieve goals 11 (sustainable cities and communities), 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) and 17 (partnerships for to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda.
The following 5 town twinnings won the competition as part of the German-Italian Prize with their respective projects.
Ludwigsburg and Bergamo
The project "Jugend-Bürgerrat Post-Corona" enables German-Italian exchange by involving young people between the ages of 15 and 30 in order to strengthen local democracy through structured participation processes. The cities of Ludwigsburg and Bergamo as well as the district of Ludwigsburg and the province of Bergamo have concluded a partnership agreement since September 2020 to promote the goals of cooperation in the spirit of the European idea.
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Steinhagen and Fivizzano
The aim of the project "Friendship united in the same spirit" is to strengthen the relationship between the two communities in terms of European Integration. The municipalities of Steinhagen and Fivizzano have been twinning since September 1988 to promote mutual understanding and to strive for peaceful coexistence. Link to project page. By loading the video, you accept YouTube's privacy policy.
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Hamm and Bari
The aim of the #URBANEVISIONEN project is to offer a joint forum for research, discussion and participatory design, so that schoolchildren in the cities of Hamm and Bari have the opportunity to actively deal with the topics of urban renewal, historical urban spaces and culture. The cities of Hamm and Bari already have intensive cooperation in the field of education and training. Since May 2021, both communities have signed a friendship agreement with the aim of establishing partnerships and further expanding their cooperation in the areas of culture, society and education.
Large district town of Giengen an der Brenz and San Michele di Ganzaria
The project "Municipal and European political youth exchange" is intended to promote German-Italian youth exchange on the subject of digital and environmentally friendly Europe in order to counteract the risk of social exclusion of young people, especially from rural areas. The large district town of Giengen an der Brenz and the municipality of San Michele di Ganzaria signed a partnership agreement in November 2018 to promote cooperation and to further expand economic and cultural exchange.
Markt Höchberg and Bastia Umbria
The German-Italian exchange between families with autistic children is made possible by the project "Encounters of families with autistic children", which Markt Höchberg and the city of Bastia Umbria have launched. Within its framework, the differences and similarities as well as experiences in dealing with disabilities should be analyzed and opportunities for improvement found. Both places maintain a multi-year partnership that was signed in March 1990. The current goal is to intensify cooperation between Germany and Italy in order to ensure the security and sustainability of the future of Europe. Link to newsletter
