The call for tenders for designing and building the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka has been awarded: the winning project was submitted by the group led by architect Mario Cucinella, a renowned professional and winner of numerous international awards.
The Italian Pavilion will be a modern version of the Ideal City, an iconic symbol of the Italian Renaissance.
Bearing in mind the theme of the Osaka Expo – Designing Future Societies for our lives – the committee chose to award the project that most effectively embodies the Italian identity, in a contemporary and high-impact key, expressing the values at the heart of the Italian culture: an Italian vision of social space based on integration, inclusiveness, and a “can do” spirit built on real relationships and interactions, which are well represented by concepts deeply rooted in our tradition, such as the “square”, “theatre” and “garden”.
The flexibility and adaptability of the project will also allow for an exceptional partnership, since – for the first time in a universal exhibition – the Italian pavilion will also host the Holy See. A large and recognisable space will allow for the organisation of cultural events and important art exhibitions in cooperation with the Dicastery for Evangelisation, which is managing the organisation.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, believes that “the Italian Pavilion will be an effective instrument for growth diplomacy, a strategy that I have been implementing since the beginning of my office together with the entire government team, which also aims to promote tourism and local territories, to support the internationalisation of production chains and attract investment, as well as to enhance Italian technologies and know-how”.
“The collaboration with the Vatican”, Tajani added, “is a result of which I am particularly proud. The joint pavilion will guarantee visitors a high-quality experience with particularly significant content, inspired by shared culture and values”.
The Minister also stated that “We want to strengthen and organise the strategic partnership with Japan, launched in January by our Prime Ministers, particularly with regard to the industrial and scientific sectors, which have the potential to grow even further. Italy wants to make its presence in Asia and the Indo-Pacific, regions of growing geopolitical and economic importance, even more prominent by focusing on an approach marked by inclusiveness and collaboration”.
