Salve! Southwell could twin with Sarzana in Italy

Southwell may soon be saying salve (hello) to a new twin town in Italy.

Members of the Italian Conversation language group in Southwell are arranging a twinning link with Sarzana in northern Italy.

Once the twinning has taken place Sarzana will join the towns of Sées, in France, and Ceský Brod, in the Czech Republic, with which Southwell already has links.

Southwell Town Council has agreed to write a letter of friendship to the Mayor of Sarzana.

Mr Roger Dobson, a councillor, said he fully supported a link with Italy.

He said: “If you are a town there are certain obligations of a civic nature and recognising and promoting partnerships with other towns, both in this country and also abroad, is what a town council should do.”

Mrs Beryl Prentice said Southwell had a happy record of twinning with Sées and Ceský Brod.

She said the twinning would not require a major formal agreement.

“What they are asking from us is an offer of friendship and we could very easily do that,” she said.

Mrs Sue Dymond, who is helping to organise the link, said she was pleased the idea was being so well supported by people in Southwell, including the council and the Rotary and Lions clubs.

Mrs Dymond, who visited Sarzana to have initial talks with the mayor, said there were many areas of similarity between the towns and they would look at creating a shared IT resource.

She said: “One thing we really wanted to explore was music because, just as we have quite a few festivals in Southwell, they have a guitar festival and an opera festival.”

Mrs Dymond said they were not planning to accept large parties of children on exchange trips.

She said: “We want to keep it on a level where people can get to know each other gradually.”

Sarzana, with a population of 22,000, is in the province of La Spezia, Liguria, and boasts a Medieval fortress among its tourist attractions, as well as a white marble cathedral.

Southwell has a population of around 7,000.