(ANSA) - UDINE, 13 SET - Cividale del Friuli (Udine), through the support and frontline work of Mittelfest, a festival of Mitteleuropa culture, is the first Italian city to join the EFFE Seal project of EFA (European Festivals Association), the "seal" of European localities that boost their economic growth and image with culture festival. The Mittelfest Association announced today.

This morning, the cities of Belgrade (Serbia), Bergen (Norway), Edinburgh (Scotland), Ghent (Belgium), Krakow (Poland), Leeuwarden (Netherlands), and Ljubljana (Slovenia) officially signed the founding document of Effe Seals in Yerevan, Armenia, at the Arts Festivals Summit.

Cividale Mayor Daniela Bernardi signed the Memorandum through which the city and its festival, Mittelfest, pledge to share the goals of Effe Seals, "namely core European values and creativity, sustainability, internationality, and critical thinking." "Joining EFFE Seal is an opportunity of great visibility for the city of Cividale, which enters an international European network aiming not only at cultural but also touristic and economic enhancement," Bernardi underlined.

"With EFFE Seal, Mittelfest further strengthens its dual vocation," said Mittelfest president Roberto Corciulo, "that of an international festival showcasing the best of Central European live entertainment and, at the same time, that of an event that owes its uniqueness to the place where it takes place, Cividale." (ANSA).