Italy breaks ground for its Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai

The country will showcase its finest minds, talent and expertise at its pavilion themed ‘Beauty connects People’.

DUBAI – November 28, 2019: Italy, among the first countries participating in the Universal Exposition to start building its own pavilion, has broken ground at Expo 2020 Dubai. Themed ‘Beauty connects people’, it will showcase its finest minds, talent and expertise and feature Innovation Hub, an innovatively designed structure inspired by the most advanced sustainability and circular economy standards.  

The groundbreaking ceremony was held at the Expo site in the presence of Mr. Stefano Buffagni, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Italy; Mr. Nicola Lener, Italian Ambassador to the UAE; Mr. Najeeb Al Ali, Executive Director of Expo Bureau; and Mr. Paolo Glisenti, Commissioner General of Italy. 

The Italy pavilion, located in proximity with the UAE pavilion on the ‘cultural spine’ of the Expo site, will open its doors on October 20, 2020 and demonstrate innovation and sustainability in aerospace. The structure, covering an area of 3,500 square metres and reaching a height of almost 27 metres, will afford a memorable immersive experience to visitors. Italy expects an estimated 28,000 visitors on average daily for a total of over five million visitors during the six months of the Expo that will conclude in April 2021.

Italy will share visibility space with the pavilions of the UAE, India, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan and the US between the thematic areas of Expo 2020 dedicated to ‘Opportunities’ and ‘Sustainability’. Carlo Ratti, Italo Rota, Matteo Gatto and F&M Ingegneria are the creative masterminds of the pavilion. 

The Italy pavilion will be an actual ‘garden of stories’, where the garden metaphorically summarises many different elements coming together to convey balance and harmony a reflection of the order of the universe. The building with a circular approach to architecture using the hulls of three ships incorporated in the roof of the exhibition area for the entire duration of the Expo. 

The exhibition route of Italy at Expo 2020 Dubai reflects a journey of sight. It starts high up, from the unusual view from a panoramic viewpoint – just like the travelers on the Grand Tour, who used to admire the amazing landscapes of Italy from the highest points – and accompanies the visitor on a journey through narrative architectures: the Belvedere, where beauty can be glimpsed through an octagonal window opening onto Italy’s finest landscapes; the Short Stories space, dedicated to presentational and cinematographic “short stories” focusing on Italian excellence in know-how and expertise; then there’s the Innovation Study Centre, offering an immersive journey into the latest frontiers of Italian research on Space and marine waters; and lastly, the Theatre of Memory, dedicated to the mother of all the muses. 

Through galleries lined with gilded Byzantine-style mosaics, the view journey ends with the eyes cast upon the work that perhaps more than any other embodies the excellence of Italian culture and art: Michelangelo’s David. A real-size copy of the David will be positioned inside one of the wooden structures inspired by Renaissance theatres, affording visitors an eye-level view rather than from below as usual, generating an introspective and emotional perspective – the memory of what we are projected into the future.