PALERMO (ITALPRESS) – Catania, Pisa and Turin are the three finalist cities of the Italian Youth City Award, promoted by the National Youth Council in collaboration with the Department for Youth Policies and Universal Civil Service of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Italian Youth Agency.
The Award enhances youth-friendly city projects in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The projects presented by the three finalist municipalities were selected by the Jury for their ability to foster the involvement of young people through the construction of spaces and tools that are valid for ensuring their active participation in local decision-making processes.
“The three finalist cities for the 2025 edition of the Italian City of Youth Award, Catania, Pisa and Turin, underscore how the attention of municipal administrations to the issue of the younger generation ideally embraces the entire nation. The fact that Pisa and Catania made it to the finals for the second year in a row indicates the perseverance and determination with which the two administrations want to manifest their awareness of the importance of this award, which aims to stimulate the participation of boys and girls in local policies and in territorial decision-making processes, thus promoting active participation in their own territory. First time instead for Turin and who knows if it will be the outsider to snatch the award from the two “veteran” cities. Once again, the task of the Examining Board will be arduous and the winning city will have to inherit the baton from Potenza, the outgoing city of youth, which has done well this year and which I hope will proceed on the path of flanking young people, because the recognition lasts one year, the commitment must be constant over time. Good luck to the finalist cities!” commented Andrea Abodi, Minister for Sport and Youth.
Maria Cristina Pisani, President of the National Youth Council, added, “Catania, Pisa and Turin have embraced with heart and vision a wonderful challenge: to make young people protagonists of the choices of their cities. They listened, involved and gave space to their ideas, transforming them into real opportunities for growth and change. The Italian City of Youth Award, which we proudly promote every year, is not just an award, it is a promise and a commitment aimed at building a future in which the new generations are active participants in territorial and national decision-making choices. Potenza has witnessed this over the past year, enhancing the energies, skills and ideas of so many boys and girls, making them an integral part of the territory’s strategic choices. These extraordinary finalist cities testify to it today: when institutions believe in young people, anything is possible. To Catania, Pisa and Turin, a big good luck. And a special thanks to all the municipalities that participated, because together they show that we can be a country capable of listening, valuing and giving space to the dreams and aspirations of the younger generations.”
“The Italian City of Youth Award today represents a further opportunity for our territories to express and realize spaces of protagonism, in which young people can not only manifest their creativity and commitment to the common good, but also feel an active part of decision-making processes; places in which to experience participation, responsibility, sociality. It is essential that the new generations find reliable interlocutors in the institutions, ready to listen to their ideas, enhance their visions and transform them into concrete actions. I am certain that the three finalist cities, Catania, Pisa and Turin, fully represent this spirit. From north to south, they tell of the beauty of being communities capable of welcoming and accompanying, of supporting and encouraging especially the younger generations, so that they can contribute with enthusiasm and responsibility to the construction of a Nation capable of translating the dreams of each into paths and projects. This is my wish, as well as for the three finalists, for all the cities and for all the local administrators who every day put themselves at the service of citizenship: may you make cities places of all and for all, spaces open to dialogue, collaboration and shared growth,” concluded Federica Celestini Campanari, President of the Italian Youth Agency.
The Jury is composed of the three sponsoring bodies and experts chosen from among those who have distinguished themselves for their sensitivity and commitment to youth policies: Annamaria Giannini, Director of the Department of Psychology at Sapienza University of Rome; Francesco Giambrone, Superintendent of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Maria Rosaria Santangelo, Director of the Department of Architecture at the University of Naples Federico II; and Patrizia Giallombardo, Technical Director of the Italian National Artistic Swimming Team.
The winner of the Italian Youth City Award will be announced in the coming weeks as part of the official award ceremony. On that occasion, the initiatives of the finalist cities will be presented, providing an opportunity to compare and exchange best practices for and with young people.
-Photo pexels.com-.
(ITALPRESS).
