Beauty, sustainability and comfort: three elements behind the success of the Biella textile culture in the world to which is added the technical perfection given by the widespread “know-how” of the territory: these are the elements on which the city aims for the ambitious candidacy to a place in the international Unesco Creative Cities network, the creative cities, in the Crafts & Folk Art sector, or manufacturing and popular arts. The official announcement was made on Thursday 11 October by the mayor Marco Cavicchioli and the president of the Cassa di Risparmio di Biella Foundation Franco Ferraris during an unusual press conference during the study trip to the university of gastronomic sciences of Pollenzo to which the Foundation has entrusted the preparation of a preliminary strategic document for the enhancement of cultural and immaterial knowledge related to the theme of wool.
“It is no coincidence that the announcement of the UNESCO candidacy took place during a trip,” explained Franco Ferraris. “It is in fact the beginning of a journey that will bring all the main players of the territory, whom I thank for being here today, to join together in a common path that will first of all rediscover the bases of our culture and the elements of excellence of the district as founding points of a new Biellese renaissance. With great conviction, therefore, the Foundation has entrusted a preliminary project to a first-rate partner such as the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo and will support the expenses related to the candidacy ».
The visit to the Pollentina University was in fact organized by the Foundation to allow the representatives of the territory and the press to see in the field the extraordinary result obtained by Carlo Petrini with the application of the “good, right, clean” model to food and public giving illustration of the “wool project” prepared by the University of Pollenzo and illustrated by the former Rector Piercarlo Grimaldi.
“The city of Biella has adhered with conviction and enthusiasm to the Foundation’s proposal to advance its candidacy for the UNESCO network,” said mayor Marco Cavicchioli. “I believe in fact that today we need to look at the future more than ever together and try to imagine new scenarios, even ambitious ones, with the ability to start from our uniqueness”. Starting afresh from wool, a noble fiber par excellence, to tell about the know-how of a territory with a new horizon and a broader medium-long term objective that knows how to interpret in a modern and attractive way not only the Biella industrial excellence, but the beauty and liveability of the entire Biella system through the emotional narration of strong themes. The Unesco candidacy therefore fits into a wider territory project that aims to enhance the creative history of the Biella area, the mastery and innovation of the textile universe, in the circuit reserved for world excellence in various sectors of creativity“.
Carlo Piacenza, president of the Industrial Union of Biella, comments: “Being able to exploit the textile heritage of Biella as the Langhe has been able to do with food excellence is an important goal for the territory. Our District boasts a centennial business culture, unique in its kind, and a productive fabric of value, thanks to the “know-how” that links the past and the present; it is a district that has always made creativity its peculiar characteristic. It is therefore essential to tell everything behind a product, a story that represents a precious added value of our textile “.
The candidacy therefore comes as a movement of pride in a moment of great ferment for the Biellese whose main institutional forces are more than ever united to achieve important results that allow to re-launch the system coming out of isolation. The change of perspective is first of all cultural and leads us to see the Biellese from an external and broader point of view as an attractive territory for quality of life and well-being at the center of the Turin-Milan axis. In this context even minor realities can find new life in dialogue with the major centers in terms of services and cultural appeal, points on which the Biella is working intensely. “With this project the Foundation and the city of Biella take on a new horizon” explains Professor Pier Carlo Grimaldi who curated the “wool project”, “starting from their own roots they imagine a new future together and make a journey of memory and awareness collective, the first indispensable step to build awareness of the uniqueness of a territory “.
Once the candidacy has been formalized, the time will be very tight, in fact the proclamation of the new Unesco creative cities should take place by autumn 2019. For this reason, an institutional working group is being set up which will work to draft the candidacy that has been entrusted to Bia Srl, a consulting company in the cultural sector that has already taken care of several similar projects, including the winning bid for the city of Alba.
