The European Capital of Culture. Will Matera 2019 Be a Successful Example?

The paper presents the results of a still ongoing research on Matera 2019, the project that the capital city of Basilicata region presented and adopted to win the competition for being nominated European Capital of Culture in 2019. The European Capitals of Culture initiative is an important motor to express the territorial image and identity of destinations. Being European Capital of Culture can be an actual development force capable of effectively connecting the individual components of a geographical area in order to increase the whole territorial value. The city of Matera is implementing big efforts in succeeding in its initiative and mainly in involving people in building the quality of social participation in sustaining singular initiatives and the whole project. We expose programmed contents of Matera 2019 and partial results of our main ongoing research on the topic, now showing the particular mood by which residents understand the opportunity and do participate in functioning Matera 2019. People and entrepreneurs of cultural and tourism businesses are gladly willing to support any public initiative in favour of using the role of Cultural Capital for ameliorating the urban quality and economic situation of the city and the region. Yet many of informants we interviewed are still having a sort of ‘calm waiting’ and some sceptical expectations for the effectiveness of public capacity in view of final success. All people think the project is a good idea for the present times to be continued after the ending of the happy year of the event.