At the end of the summer, the cross-border event Zvoki miru / I suoni della pace / The Sounds of Peace once again brought together the Slovenian and Italian sides of the former Isonzo Front. For the fourth consecutive year, the initiative was jointly organized by Kulturni dom Nova Gorica, Associazione Progetto Musica, Javni zavod Miren Kras, PromoTurismo FVG, Walk of Peace Foundation, and Proloco Fogliano Redipuglia.
Combining music, storytelling, and hiking, the event revives sites of memory and spreads a message of peace and cooperation. This year’s edition was further enriched by the support of the European Capital of Culture GO! 2025.
On Sunday, 31 August, around one hundred hikers gathered at the old school in Temnica to join a three-hour walk “From Cave to Cave” led by the Jamarski klub Temnica. The route, over five kilometres long, connected three karst caves – Krompirjeva, Klobasjeva, and Lojzova – each with its own story from the First World War. The walk was accompanied by the music of Marco di Lena, guitarist and lutenist, and concluded with a warm bowl of jota prepared by the Leban Tourist Farm. The event was free of charge, co-financed by the BeWoP project.
The evening programme took place inside Krompirjeva Cave, where the audience experienced the music–film performance Beyond Zero: 1914–1918 by composer Aleksandra Vrebalov and filmmaker Bill Morrison – a powerful artistic reflection on war and peace. The work was performed live by the Acies Quartett, with Incredible Bob enhancing the atmosphere through light effects. The project is part of the Art Against the Gun initiative, coordinated by Mink Tolmin Association within the GO! 2025 framework.
A week later, on September 7, the program continued in Redipuglia, where guided walks led visitors to the valley Dolina del XV Bersaglieri. The highlight of the evening was the performance by renowned Italian artist Neri Marcorè, whose interpretation captivated a large audience from both sides of the border. On the Italian side, the event was carried out with the support of two Walk of Peace projects — BeWoP and WALKofPEACE+.
The Sounds of Peace 2025 concluded once again with a powerful symbolic message: where the thunder of artillery once echoed, today resonate music, dialogue, and shared memory. The event continues to serve as a cross-border bridge of peace, cooperation, and a common European future.
