UNESCO meeting at the Girolamini moves Naples towards a heritage biennale

23 October 2026

A UNESCO event called 'Towards a Naples Biennale on Cultural Heritage' was held at the Girolamini Monumental Complex in Naples from 21 to 23 October. Italy's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation organised it with the Ministry of Culture and the City of Naples. The meeting forms part of the programme marking 2,500 years of the city of Naples. It builds on the Naples Conference on Cultural Heritage in the 21st Century, held in 2023 and 2025, which looked at how UNESCO's cultural conventions work with one another and at a people-centred approach to heritage, both tangible and intangible. After the second conference, the UNESCO Executive Board asked Italy and the UNESCO Secretariat to work out what a permanent platform for dialogue on heritage would look like. The aim is a biennale that would meet in Naples.