Between 6 and 16 July 2025, the 47th Session of the World Heritage Committee is held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The Committee is composed of representatives of 21 States, including Italy, elected from among the 196 States Parties to the 1972 Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. In his speech, the Permanent Representative of Italy to UNESCO, Ambassador Liborio Stellino, emphasised the importance of capacity-building activities for States Parties to the Convention that are still under-represented on the Heritage List. This is essential for the List to be fully inclusive and balanced among the various areas of the world. In this regard, he mentioned the recent contribution of €6 million from the Italian Cooperation to ICCROM for a regional project on capacity building for cultural heritage conservation in Africa, as well as the initiative of the National School of Heritage and Cultural Activities with ICCROM ‘World Heritage in Africa: Processes and Strategies’ aimed at African heritage professionals. At each of its annual sessions, the Committee is called upon to examine new proposals for inscription on the World Heritage List and to assess the conservation status of already inscribed sites, based on the analyses produced by the advisory bodies and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. During the current session, the Committee will evaluate 30 new site nominations (24 cultural, 5 natural and 1 mixed). Italy is nominating as a World Heritage Site the evocative funerary architecture of the domus de janas, monumental archaeological artefacts found in Sardinia and dating back to the pre-Nuragic period, from the Middle Neolithic to the Copper Age to the beginning of the Bronze Age (between the 5th and the end of the 3rd millennium BC). Italy is proud to promote a site that emphasises the profound link between culture, history and territory, enhancing the harmony between man and nature.
Italy participates in the World Heritage Committee. Cooperation activities in Africa and domus de janas candidacy
