The untimely death of the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, caused deep pain throughout Europe and also in the EcocNews Team who had met him personally on 20 December 2019 at the closing of the Matera 2019 cultural program. In a few hours he made us understand that a smile coincides with authority and that, as he told us, "beauty comes from freedom".

David Sassoli was a friend of culture and the European capitals of culture. During the press conference in Matera he said: "We will not vote that budget of the European Commission, we as the unanimity of the European Parliament, that budget that cuts funds for culture by 20 percent". EcocNews wants to remember the great personality of David Sassoli by publishing his speech, in English, for the Matera 2019 monitoring report "Matera is a producer of culture", his extraordinary greeting at the end of the cultural program, in italian, and some videos of that memorable day.

Hi, David.

If the Italian Capital of Culture for 2024 were measured on the basis of its digital activity, the two Apulian cities Conversano and Mesagne would certainly be included in the short list, which will be announced in January, while the Lucanian town of Aliano would remain excluded from the competition, since it has not thought, at least to date, of opening social channels on the candidacy.

There is no recovery or future for Europe without culture. The European cultural ecosystem is convinced that Europe needs a new Cultural Deal, a transversal, overarching framework that should demonstrate the EU’s political commitment to place culture at the heart of the European project.

The Culture Summit is organized by the world organisation of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) to guarantee the place of culture in global debates on sustainable development and to encourage networking, peer-learning and the sharing of good practices between cities and local governments from across the world. Held in Bilbao, Jeju and Buenos Aires in previous years, the 4th UCLG Culture Summit will be hosted by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality on 9-11 September 2021 in Izmir, a global actor of local cultural policies.

The Asd Cultura e Sport Matera is an association from Matera, European Capital of culture 2019. They are submitting an application for the next call of the ERASMUS + SPORT program with the aim of promoting physical activity through European Traditional Sports and Games (ETSG).