Seven years after its year as European Capital of Culture, and when Matera is Mediterranean Capital of Culture and dialogue for 2026, the city of the Sassi asks what it means to be Mediterranean without a coastline. The answer comes from nine artists, four museums and a walk across the old town – until 8 December 2026.

The M.A.R.K.A.T.O. project . – Maintaining And Revitalizing Knowledge And Traditional Occupations -  was presented some days ago, at HubOut in Matera. It is a cross-border cooperation initiative funded by the Interreg VI-A Greece–Italy Programme 2021–2027 and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), under Specific Objective RSO4.6 dedicated to culture and sustainable tourism.

12 months of meetings, art and dialogue, with a launch event on 28 November 2025 on the Mediterranean Day, the opening on 20 March on the International Day of Happiness, and then festivals, reviews, international forums on the themes of environment and territories, digital transformations, human development and quality of life, relations and social ties, which will make the Mediterranean a platform for experimentation.

Starting on Friday 16 May, a cycle of online meetings open to the public will kick off, dedicated to the challenges and opportunities of curating in the digital age, promoted by the Fondazione Matera Basilicata 2019, leader of the Basilicata Digital Academy network, in collaboration with CNA Matera and Confapi Matera, as part of the TOCC ‘Airfare’ project.

From 5 to 10 May 2025, Materahub kicks off the Europe Week, a series of of cultural and educational events designed to honour the founding values of the European Union. The symbolic heart of the initiative will be Europe Day on 9 May, which this year marks the 75th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, the historic proposal presented in 1950 by French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman that laid the foundations of European cooperation.