Gorizia, Italy has temporarily done away with borders with Nova Gorica, Slovenia.Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
In the tiny smuggling museum at the Italian border crossing at Pristava in Slovenia, there’s a large black-and-white photograph of a handsome cow on display. There’s nothing unusual about the cow itself, except that its head is busy munching hay in the (then) Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, while its body is standing in a field in Italy. The cow is oblivious to the border beneath its feet, its serene expression highlighting the surreal nature of the situation.
Following the end of World War II, borders all over Europe were being readjusted, with Italy losing territory in France, Slovenia, Croatia and its colonies. The new borders typically prioritised the political over the personal, which is why in north-eastern Italy, the small town of Gorizia found itself suddenly divided from its outlying villages. It was a decision that would separate families, friends and workers for decades.
The Gorizia Wall was erected in 1947 – 14 years before the Berlin Wall was built – and stood for 57 years, surviving the end of the Cold War and the break-up of Yugoslavia until it was finally officially removed in 2004 when Slovenia joined the EU.
Border plaque between Gorizia, Italy, and Nova Gorica, Slovenia.
On the Piazza Transalpina, in front of an early-20th-century neoclassical railway station, a large circular plaque marks the spot where the wall once stood. Like many visitors, I’m hoping to take a moment to stand with a foot in each country, the only square in the world where this is possible. But sadly, my timing is terrible. When I arrive, the piazza is a construction site.
It’s not the only building activity in Gorizia right now. After so many decades separated by history, Gorizia and Nova Gorica (New Gorizia) – the new city built on the other side of the border in Slovenia during those five decades – is one of 2025’s European Capitals of Culture. When I visit, many other buildings and spaces in Gorizia’s old town are being spruced up for GO! 2025, their year in the spotlight.
Solkan bridges under Mount Sabotin.Credit: Getty Images
While some of its infrastructure is getting an upgrade, there’s no improving the natural assets of Gorizia, located at the foot of the Julian Alps. From the town’s medieval hilltop castle, the view stretches over the rooftops across to Nova Gorica and the mountain peaks. To the right, the Soca/Isonzo River crosses from Slovenia into Italy, where it will make its way down into the Gulf of Trieste.
If you arrive in Gorizia by train, the grand Corso Italia – lined with trees, stately villas, offices, a market, boutiques and bakeries featuring every kind of strudel – leads to the historic centre and the central square. Piazza Vittoria is the heart of this bustling, multicultural region. Venture into a bar or osteria and you might hear conversations in Slovenian, Italian or Friulian. The menu may veer north to Austria, south to the Adriatic, or simply celebrate Friuli-Venezia Giulia’s culinary treasures – think San Daniele ham, Montasio cheese and radicchio, to name a few. No menu is without a selection of excellent local wine made from vines on either side of the border.
Colourful buildings lining the Piazza Vittoria.Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
In Rebekin, a cosy bar and restaurant where we stop for lunch, a counter displays local meats and cheeses, the wine is local, and the menu moves from hearty to heavy: Polenta, sausages, bean soup and bread, followed by plum-stuffed dumplings dusted with cinnamon and sugar. I could be in south Tyrol, central Europe or Slovenia. After hundreds of years under Austrian rule, and only a century as an official part of Italy, it’s a menu that draws on deep historical and cultural roots.
Gorizia may be small, but it has always been geographically and politically important. The Romans built a road through here, while the earliest documented mentions of the town date to 1000 AD. Members of the Bourbon dynasty, fleeing the 1830 revolution in France, settled in Gorizia and are now buried in the Kostanjevica monastery. The region was also the scene of major battles in both world wars. Among the soldiers in World War I was a young volunteer ambulance driver from Illinois. A decade later, Ernest Hemingway used his experiences in Gorizia as inspiration for the early scenes of his 1927 novel A Farewell to Arms.
Kostanjevica Monastery looks over Nova Gorica town.Credit: Getty Images
From the town, it’s just a few minutes by bus to Nova Gorica. Imagined by the Slovenian architect Edvard Ravnikar as a city “that would shine across the border”, his plans may have originated during the war, but the new border made them essential.
Although Ravnikar’s original vision was never fully realised, Nova Gorica turns out to be a modern, well laid-out, green and spacious city that reminds me just a little of Canberra. A seriously bike-friendly city, 10 years of cross-border projects by EGCT GO – the organisation dedicated to cross-border economic development in the region – have resulted in a network of cycle paths linking Italy and Slovenia.
Sveta Gora, a mountaintop monastery above the town of Nova Gorica, looms over the Vipava Valley.Credit: Getty Images
We take two free pushbikes from the tourism office and ride out towards the river on the city’s wide, smooth streets before reaching the pretty historic villages on its periphery. Ahead of us, Mount Sveta Gora, with a 16th-century Franciscan monastery at its peak, overlooks the Vipava Valley. We’re looking for the Solkan Bridge, which connects Italy and Slovenia high above the Soca/Isonzo River. Later this year it will be the location of a concert by Gorizia-born piano virtuoso Alexander Gadjiev. One of several out-of-the-ordinary venues to showcase the region, it’s not hard to imagine how exquisitely beautiful the sound of music floating out across the water will be to the people lucky enough to hear it.
Romina Kocina, of EGCT GO20, the team behind the European Capital of Culture bid, says the GO! 2025 program features many places that have never been used for arts and cultural events before. It’s part of a plan to make sure the year is not only about the two border cities. “We want to be the European Capital of Culture of the whole territory, not only of Gorizia,” she says.
GO! 25 will feature places that have never been used for arts and cultural events before.Credit: Getty Images
The bike paths make this plan easy. Only a few kilometres out of Nova Gorica, we’re cycling through deep green forest on our way to Kromberk Castle, a beautifully preserved 13th-century building with an amphitheatre, where a series of concerts are planned. Throughout the two cities and the region, historic buildings, squares, churches, parks and other natural assets will host art and cultural performances and events, think tanks, ideas labs, environmental projects, and artists-in-residence exploring themes of cross-collaboration, the “borderless” city, and the two cities’ shared culture and history. Some events are just for fun: Borderless Beer will be a bar at the Piazza Transalpina with one side devoted to Slovenian breweries, the other to Gorizia’s. Something tells me it’s likely to be popular.
The Borderless concept is an idea that strongly resonates. Only 20 years since the wall came down, the memories are still vivid. “People that lived at that time will never forget,” says Kocina. Born in Yugoslavia to a Slovenian mother and a Goriziani father, she still remembers how challenging life under that system could be. Although the border was more fluid than Berlin’s, travel to and from each sector was bureaucratic and unreliable. Control of goods across the border could also add hours to any crossing.
A series of concerts are planned for Kromberk Castle’s amphitheatre.Credit: Getty Images
Back in the Pristava museum, there are many exhibits showing how locals subverted this border crossing routine: women hid cash in the heels of their shoes; a leg of prosciutto was stashed under the wheel hub of a car. Italians swapped coffee for dairy goods; Slovenians sought out toys, banned books and dirty magazines. Working with each other was essential, even under strict border conditions.
Despite more recent successful collaborations, the two border regions still have a way to go. At the time of writing, signs in Nova Gorica were exclusively Slovenian, and the information on the map in the Gorizia tourist office stopped at the Italian border. But Slovenians and Italians live and work in both countries, and Kocina says more people are making an effort to learn the other’s language. Her ambition is that the Capital of Culture experience will facilitate even more connection.
“The goal is not to forget the past or put the past behind us, but to understand that the past is part of our culture, in one way or another. We really believe in the future impact the European Capital Culture can have on both cities, and on the whole cross-border area. We hope there will be a lasting legacy.”
The details
Visit
The European Capital of Culture program runs throughout 2025 and includes many free events and performances. Bookings for ticketed events are available online. A shuttle bus travels between the cities regularly. Free bicycles are available at the Nova Gorica tourist office or use the Go2Go bike-share scheme in both cities. See go2025.eu/en
Fly
Gorizia/Nova Gorica is 50 minutes from Trieste (or two hours from Venice, via Trieste) by train, and two hours by bus from Ljubljana. The nearest international airports are at Ljubljana, Trieste and Venice.
Stay
The 4-star Best Western Gorizia Palace places you in the heart of Gorizia’s old town, with all the city’s major attractions and the railway station within walking distance. The shuttle bus to Nova Gorica is a few steps from the hotel’s front door. From $200 a night. See goriziapalace.com
In Nova Gorica, DAM boutique hotel and restaurant offers contemporary luxury accommodation just outside the city centre. The restaurant features modern Slovenian cuisine and an extensive cellar of local wines. From $262. See damhotel.si/en
More
turismofvg.it/en
slovenia.info/en
The writer travelled at her own expense.