Paolo Glisenti, the general commissioner for Italy at Expo 2020 in Dubai, describes the reproduction of Michelangelo’s David with great passion, almost emphasis. It is the jewel among the jewels of the exhibition: a life-size statue, over 5 meters high, made digitally, shaped by the largest 3D printer in the world, built in resin and recycled plastic and coated with Carrara marble dust. by the restorers of Nicola Salvioli’s team, who even reproduced the imperfections of Buonarroti’s masterpiece. “But, above all, it is possible to admire this work from a new perspective”, says the commissioner. Yes, for the first time thanks to the loggia you can look straight into David’s gaze, otherwise impossible in its original version exhibited in the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence. “And then it will be possible to discover that in the pupils of David Michelangelo has carved a heart. Isn’t that a great picture? David who defeats Goliath, Good who triumphs over Evil even love ”.
Reproduction of Michelangelo’s David in the Italian Pavilion of Expo2020
From the Costa Firenze to the Italian Pavilion
Expo 2020 is one of the excursions included in the Costa Firenze cruise package. “It is a tourist attraction”, says the general manager of Costa Cruises, Mario Zanetti. The company has invested in the universal exhibition in Dubai, is a gold sponsor of the Italian Pavilion and is committed to promoting it. The return is in terms of image, but also in numbers, given that the movement of Costa passengers in this area of the world has already increased compared to 2019.
After all, if you want to go and see, the links between the Costa Firenze, the new flagship set sail for its first voyage in the Arabian Gulf and the Pavilion that represents us, are not lacking. The tricolor, first of all, which flies at the stern of the ship and which colors the three overturned hulls of the roof, the latter the largest in the history of Italy. And then, the call to travel and discovery, the backbone of the Pavilion, connected to that of navigation. And again, the homage to the Renaissance, the one that began to illuminate Florence from the last decades of the fourteenth century and the early fifteenth century, to then illuminate Europe, but also that of a new modern renaissance, linked to technological innovation and to sustainability.
The commissioner general for Expo 2020 paolo Glisenti with the undersecretary Benedetto della Vedova admire the reproduction of the David (M. Sestini)
Leaving the ship you have to travel for a good half hour by bus to get to the area where the Expo is located, south of the city. The exhibition, scheduled for 2020, for the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the United Arab Emirates and postponed due to Covid, extends over what used to be a sandy expanse for 4.38 square kilometers, is about four and a half times the size of the previous Milan Expo (1.1 sq km), hosts the pavilions of 192 nations, each his own, as well as some other general ones linked to the themes of the three districts, mobility, opportunity and sustainability (“Connecting minds, Creating the future”, the slogan; info: dubaiexpo2020.com). It takes an electric taxi, such as a golf car, to move more easily and suffer less from the heat, already taking into account that you will not be able to visit everything and that despite the effort to understand which direction the drivers must keep, they will not leave. never head. But the spaces are so wide that the problem is not as crucial as it could be.
The Italian Pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai
Under the tricolre
We enter the Italian Pavilion with a special visit for Costa passengers – created by Carlo Ratti, Italo Rota, Matteo Gatto and F&M Ingegneria – from a privileged entrance. To welcome us, in the reception room, there is Commissioner Glisenti. Which can be satisfied, since so far ours is one of the most popular pavilions. A sign that the idea of staging “the beauty that unites people”, this is the main reason of architecture, works. The Italian Pavilion is in fact in the top 5 of the 192 pavilions, with about 620 thousand visitors in flesh and blood (attention: visitors and non-visitors) and about 6 million virtual ones. “We are very involved”, confirms the commissioner.
More generally, Expo 2020, inaugurated on 1 October last, has already registered about 6 million visits (attention: not visitors), just because one is not enough and you have to come back. The most popular pavilions are those of the Emirates and Saudi Arabia. “We are very satisfied with the results achieved so far by the expo: given the situation there have been slowdowns and accelerations, but visitors continue to arrive, there are many events and globally I can say that we are happy with the result “, says the Minister of Culture and Youth of the United Arab Emirates, Noura Al Kaabi, who appears surprisingly together with some of her collaborators in the Bulgari restaurant, perhaps to taste the now famous “bombs” of the multi-starred chef Niko Romito, the face of the maison’s catering.
Visitors at the entrance to the Italy Pavilion
It is Italy that sails, it is the Italy of know-how. The Pavilion is obviously not just the David (whose nudity and the resulting chance made people talk. “He just gave us great publicity”, Glisenti will tell us), but a set of multidisciplinary skills, talents and ingenuity that makes us proud, as well as making us understand how new training, professional and entrepreneurial opportunities can arise from the best Italian ingenuity. A result that was achieved by the designers and the government with the support of the Regions and a good list of companies, nominated exclusively in a panel at the entrance, to underline – says Glisenti – that everything is aimed at promoting “the Italy brand “.
The spirulina algae culture that purifies the air of the Italian Pavilion
The Pavilion is a mix of tradition and the future. Thus the dry stones of the Belvedere laid by a craftsman from Favignana or the pools of water with the cultivation of spirulina algae for air purification. Thus the reproduction of the mosaics of the Palatine Chapel in Palermo that adorn the internal walls of the Teatro della Memoria, but also the LED geometries of the Second Sun and the Second Moon that are activated according to the number of visitors and that are able to detect the emotions. on the faces of the latter. Thus the floor and walls made with materials obtained from orange peels and coffee beans, but also nautical ropes in recycled plastic, 70 kilometers for the equivalent of 2 million bottles that make up the facades of the Pavilion, the only one that does not need air conditioning to ensure coolness. And much more.
The future of the Expo
A work of genius, the same architecture of the Pavilion, which will probably not be completely uninstalled at the end of the exhibition. In fact, in the new district of Dubai that will rise in place of Expo 2020 something of the Italian Pavilion could remain to give substance – as governments are discussing it – for example, to a center of advanced training for the recovery of works of art destroyed by wars and natural disasters.
Let’s go back to Costa Firenze through a strangely sleepy Dubai, at least in terms of traffic, often incessant. It is Saturday, the second day of celebration in the Emirates, in addition to Friday, according to tradition, the day dedicated to prayer. For a little while longer, because the union of the seven states has decided to reshape the holidays from 1 January 2022 according to the western calendar, which celebrates the weekend on Saturdays and Sundays. The Emiratis will have two and a half days of celebration, in reality, because precisely to allow for prayer it will also be “off” on Friday afternoon. It is the Arab world that is changing.
We arrive at the new terminal of Dubai Harbor, inaugurated just in these days with the docking of Costa Firenze and AidaBella, the two ships of the Costa group (the structure is in exclusive use for the units of Carnival Corp., the parent company), animated by passengers embarking on the Christmas cruise. There are about two thousand, for Costa Firenze. The ship that celebrates the Renaissance, the ship of a fleet that, like the world, wants to put its bow on the return to normality, to travel. On a new rebirth for a better future.