Gorizia Launches Digital Platform to Preserve and Showcase Artistic Heritage
Borgo Art has launched a virtual exhibition platform in Gorizia, Italy, digitally recreating four historic landmarks and showcasing works by Franco Dugo, Roberto Kusterle, and the KB Spa Art Collection through immersive 360-degree experiences.
On June 23, 2026, the Italian city of Gorizia unveiled a new digital cultural initiative, Borgo Art, a virtual platform that transforms the city's historic sites into permanently accessible online exhibition spaces. The project was developed as part of a European cultural recovery initiative and is funded through the European Union’s Next Generation EU program under Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).
The platform has digitally recreated four historic landmarks in Gorizia:
Castle of Gorizia; Borgo Castello district; Via Rastello; the historic Krainer & Comp. hardware store.
Each location has been transformed into an interactive 360-degree environment, allowing visitors to virtually navigate exhibition spaces and explore the city's cultural heritage remotely.
The launch includes three major curated exhibitions.
The first project, “Allegories, Three Stations for an Artistic Journey,” is dedicated to the work of painter Franco Dugo. The exhibition is divided into three thematic series — Medusa, Boxeurs, and Prima del bosco (“Before the Forest”) — exploring themes of human identity, corporeality, and existential experience.
The second exhibition showcases the photographic work of Roberto Kusterle, who has explored the relationship between humanity and nature since the 1970s. Featured series include Abyss and Low Tides, The Embrace in the Forest, and Signs of Metembiosis. The artist incorporates experimental materials such as resin, glass, and photosensitive emulsions into his creative practice.
The third exhibition, “Disclosed Horizons,” is a digital reconstruction of an exhibition from the KB Spa Art Collection that was first presented in Trieste in 2012. It highlights key figures of twentieth-century Slovenian art and emphasizes the cultural dialogue between Italy and Slovenia, particularly significant in the border region of Gorizia and Nova Gorica, which jointly held the title of European Capital of Culture in 2025.
The initiative was developed by Inside Europe, a cultural association established within the International and Diplomatic Sciences degree program in Gorizia. The project forms part of the broader national initiative “A Thousand Years of History at the Heart of Europe: Borgo Castello, Crossroads of Peoples and Cultures,” financed through the PNRR (Mission 1, Component 3, Measure 2, Investment 2.1, Line A), which aims to enhance the attractiveness of Italy’s historic villages.
According to official project documentation, completion is scheduled for June 30, 2026. However, the digital format ensures long-term access to the exhibitions even after the project’s formal conclusion.
Project developers emphasize that the platform preserves cultural exhibitions in a digital format without time limitations, expands audience reach, and reduces dependence on physical installations. The initiative also enables multiple exhibitions to remain accessible simultaneously, making the artistic heritage of the region available to audiences worldwide.