Italian Sister City For Nelson A ‘Poignant’ Opportunity

Thursday, 13 March 2025, 6:46 am
Article: Max Frethey - Local Democracy Reporter

A proposed sister city linking the Top of the South to Southern Italy is being welcomed by members of Nelson’s Italian community.

Representatives of Massa Lubrense, a town on the Gulf of Naples, have expressed their desire to establish a sister city relationship with Nelson.

A letter signed by its mayor and tourism councillor noted Nelson’s generational links with their town and Italian immigrants’ contributions to the local and national economy.

Massa Lubrense has a population of 14,000 scattered amongst 18 interlinked hamlets and is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula, near the Amalfi Coast.

Nelson is home to one of New Zealand’s largest Italian communities, many of whom emigrated from Southern Italy in the early 1900s, particularly from around Naples, including many from Massa Lubrense.

The city’s Italian population was centred around the Wood, whose land was used extensively for market gardens with glasshouses once a common sight across the suburb.

Rome-born Nelson resident Flavia Spena, organiser of the Nelson Italian Festival, prompted the sister city request when she travelled to Massa Lubrense in June last year to raise the possibility with its council.

She said the idea of the relationship was warmly received by the town’s tourism councillor.

“The majority of the [Italian] families here, they come from Massa Lubrense. There’s still a lot of links between each other,” she said.

“I thought that actually, we should really explore more the link between Nelson and Italy.”

While Nelson’s Italian community might not be the largest in the country, Spena said it was one of the most tight-knit and could become the centre of New Zealand’s Italian culture.

“If people are committed, I think it will happen because everybody is so positive … Everybody wants to be part of it.”

Francis Miccio, president of Club Italia Nelson, said a sister city relationship would be “very poignant”.

“It could be a wonderful opportunity now for both our second and third generation Italians in our community to both connect and reconnect with family and extended family.”

He said there were “good synergies” if the two developed their relationship, with both Nelson and Massa Lubrense being sunny coastal centres with strong fishing and tourism industries.

“Ultimately, it'd be great to have a sister city relationship with a European town, and I think it's very applicable that it could possibly be an Italian town.”

Nelson currently has three sister cities: Miyazu in Japan, and Huangshi and Yangjiang in China, while the sister city relationship with Eureka in California came to an end in 2023 after the members of its management committee all retired.

The Sister City movement was founded by US President Eisenhower after World War II to promote peace and cooperation.

For Nelson, its sister city relationships help enable student exchanges, cultural events, build trade relationships, and support its tourism, international education, science, and tech sectors.

For example, nine students selected from Nelson and Richmond secondary schools, accompanied by two adults, will travel to Yangjiang in April.

Mayor Nick Smith acknowledged that the council only has a small role in foreign affairs but believed there was value in supporting sister city relationships.

“We are richer culturally and economically by being connected,” he said.

“Council can only sustain a few sister city relationships, but I believe one in Europe, where we now have a Free Trade Agreement, is an opportunity worth exploring.”

Before Nelson might become a sister city to Massa Lubrense, the letter will initially be considered by the council’s Sister Cities and International Visitors Co-ordinating Group.

Following the decline of Nelson’s relationship with Eureka, and an in-person presentation from Portsmouth, New Hampshire city councillor Rich Blalock seeking a sister city relationship with Nelson in December 2023, a public meeting was held in May 2024 to determine what Nelson’s future relationship with North American cities might look like.

"I set the target of them setting up at least 20 members and forming a committee by December 2024,” Smith said.

“The initiative has not proceeded any further.”

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