TWO CITIES, ONE HEART

This school year, the Ringaraja kindergarten from Gorizia prepared a special project called RinGoraja, which was closely linked to the GO!2025 – European Capital of Culture event. The aim of the project, included in the annual plan, was to bring Gorizia and Nova Gorica closer to children in a way that transcends geographical boundaries: through experience, observation and friendship.

Throughout the year, the children regularly went for walks around the city. Through these everyday, but precious paths, they slowly and sensually discovered the diverse faces of their place. They visited all the important points of Gorizia: from Travnik, Goriška Castle, the Nova Gorica railway station and the Kostanjevica hill, to the Europe Square, where they met their peers from the Kurirček kindergarten from Nova Gorica. The square has thus become a symbol of integration, a place of childhood friendship and a common future. They also took advantage of natural beauties, such as the Soča River with the park in Peuma, and developed respect for the space in which they grow up with sensitivity to the environment.

At all these points, the children drew what they saw, without templates, without prototypes, only with their own eyes and imagination. These drawings were extremely valuable, as they showed what children notice the most, how they experience their surroundings, what attracts them and what inspires them.

One of the key highlights of the project was to experience the city through the eyes of children. In the end, the children understood something that adults often forget: that Gorizia and Nova Gorica, although two cities, beat in the same rhythm, with a single heart. The Ringoraja project has thus gently but powerfully conveyed a message of coexistence, openness and cross-border connectivity.