Neapolitan Republic is traveling to Dubai for a unique event: Expo 2020 , the first Universal Exhibition in the Arab world !

As lovers of our country and experts in history and beauty, we could not miss the opportunity to visit this structure that "Sails in the middle of the desert like a boat in the middle of the sea, it is a tricolour that can be seen from miles away" as described by Carlo Ratti who built it. in collaboration with Italo Rota Building Office , F&M Ingegneria and Matteo Gatto.

The message of Expo 2020 is " Connecting minds, generating the future ," and the Italian pavilion has translated it into " Beauty connects people ." Beauty understood as an element capable of combining multidisciplinary knowledge and skills from the past, present, and future. An element that unites style, cultural and spiritual knowledge, design skills, and creative genius in tradition and innovation . Beauty as a key word for telling a unique story through a journey filled with emotion, but also creativity and insight.

Awarded the best entrepreneurial project of the year at the prestigious Construction Innovation Awards in the United Arab Emirates, the Italian Pavilion extends over 3,500 square meters and is an excellent example of reconfigurable architecture and circular design. A building capable of evolving over time and sustainably, its construction materials include algae , coffee grounds , orange peels , and sand . Specifically, the coffee and orange peels were dried and ground into powder, then used as a covering for the pathways and suspended walkways. The locally sourced sand, meanwhile, is used for a 5-meter-high dune on which the entire Pavilion rests.

A challenge launched to combat the current climate crisis. Inside the pavilion are over 160 plant species , a natural landscape that pays homage to the biodiversity and ecological beauty of Italy and the Mediterranean. In particular, the focus is on the role of plants in the fight against desertification .

A beauty with a thousand facets: natural, architectural, historical, innovative.

The choice of the building's roof is no coincidence, as it recalls the maritime connections between the Italian and Arabian peninsulas. Indeed, the roof is composed of three hulls that , at the end of the exhibition, will be free to set sail for other destinations. They range from 40 to 50 meters in length, supported by 150 slender steel pillars, each 27 meters long, and were built with the contribution of Fincantieri , Europe's largest shipbuilder. Seen from above, these green, white, and red hulls form the largest tricolor in Italian history, spanning 2,100 square meters.

Another wonderful feature of the pavilion: it has no walls, but is surrounded by a multimedia curtain façade made of nautical ropes made from recycled plastic from nearly two million water bottles. This system provides shade and natural ventilation , thus avoiding the use of air conditioning, which, given Dubai's high temperatures, represents an incredible saving.

There are many interesting spaces within the Pavilion, such as the Belvedere : a circular structure topped by a dome covered in wild Mediterranean plants, reminiscent of Renaissance gardens. At its base is the microalgae spirulina , cultivated by the renewable energy company TOLO Green, which purifies the air by biofixing carbon dioxide produced by visitors, and is also used as paint in several areas of the building. There is also plenty of water , a metaphorical element evoking the Mediterranean, but which thus takes on an emblematic role in resource recycling and innovative energy systems .

Looking up, surrounding the Belvedere, we find an excellent example of technological research, namely the digital installations “ Second Sun ” and “ Second Moon ” created by Enel X used not only to illuminate the plants, but also to create a crescendo of lighting effects linked to the emotions of visitors monitored in real time.

In this area two tributes from the great Gabriele Salvatores : a short film created to tell the story of the art of Italian know-how , showing the excellence of Italian ingenuity and manufacturing, that famous Made in Italy that the whole world loves and then the “story” of Italian landscapes, little-known glimpses of disarming beauty, inside the Belvedere dome.

And then a grand celebration of authentic Italian beauty by Dolce & Gabbana : an architectural structure with baroque forms, typical of the eighteenth-century garden architecture of Southern Italy. The elegant octagonal columns and the seats carved from the wall that we see are entirely covered with 1,200 finely crafted and hand-painted majolica tiles by Sicilian master ceramists.

Continuing the visit, you enter the Innovation Space to discover research and innovation projects . For example, we can see a 1:1 scale reproduction of the engine block and propeller of Leonardo's tiltrotor, representing the excellence of the aeronautical industry. Italian.

Or the Martian Drill , a highly advanced technological instrument that will play a fundamental role in the first mission of ESA's planetary exploration .

And then, the heart of the pavilion, which has been much talked about and attracted a huge number of visitors: the Theatre of Memory .

Upon entering, you enter a circular room covered in a gold mosaic made by Sicis of Ravenna which reproduces the images and symbols of the Palatine Chapel in Palermo .

At the center of the theater, an octagonal structure offers a view of an exceptional work of art: a life-size digital reproduction of Michelangelo's David . David, chosen precisely because it is a symbol of rebirth and struggle, as well as of incredible Renaissance beauty, is the 3D twin of the original. To make it even more realistic, a mix of resin and Carrara marble dust was used to cover the surface, creating a skin that replicates cracks and details with great precision. It was created by the Galleria dell'Accademia, geomatics researchers at the University of Florence, measurement and digitalization experts, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, and the Hexagon company. A perfect example of memory and future .

Once out of the Theatre of Memory, one is immersed in the landscape of silence , that is, you walk in a corridor covered with sound-absorbing panels designed by Caimi , accompanied by the “ Olfactory landscapes ” proposed by Acqua di Parma, which features alternating essences and scents from some Italian regions, such as Capri, Sicily, and the Amalfi Coast.

The path ends with the installation of the State Railways : the sound design offers the experience of the whizzing of trains at high speed, alternating the visions of territories and landscapes routes of the great Italian railway network.

The journey to discover Italian beauty ends here, but only for this Universal Exposition, because our beautiful country will never cease to amaze us and make us fall in love.