One of the first weekends of the AGI – Universal Exposition saw a peak of approximately 30,000 access to the Italian Pavilion, approximately 150,000 visitors in attendance and over 3 million online users, including websites and social channels. This means that one in five of the more than 750,000 visitors registered since the opening of the expo site visited the Italian pavilion.

The numbers that come from the organization of the Italian Pavilion in Dubai, only two out of the 26 weeks of the exhibition, are “satisfactory well beyond expectations”. Right now, Dubai International Airport has registered over 100,000 visitors in a single day for the first time since the global lockdown.

According to major tour operators operating in both Italy and the United Arab Emirates, monthly booking volumes in Dubai registered an increase of up to 40% compared to the same period in 2019, the previous comparable year before the pandemic. And also thanks to the school holidays that have just begun in the Gulf, the expo site is now running at full speed, with full parking lots and queues at the pavilions, especially on weekends, some of which are like the Arab Emirates. Even special booking apps have been activated to distribute the inflows during the 14 daily opening hours.

The day begins at the Italian Pavilion, which has so far attracted the attention of an average of 12 television crews a day, many of them regional or international. On Friday, Michelangelo’s copy of David, the Spirit of the Pavilion, was also on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, able to “create a sensation” in the context of an exhibition that was certainly not lacking in great options. From the desert oasis of the Singapore Pavilion, a veritable tropical forest of hanging pathways and exhibition spaces hidden inside cones of plants, to the royal mummies of Tutankhamun’s time displayed in the Egyptian Pavilion.

While the week opens dedicated to exploration and research related to the space economy and Puglia for Italy, the expo has managed to make news practically every day, qualifying itself as a place where politics “happens”. , A Free Zone of Geopolitical Mobility, Fertile Ground Economic Agreement, International Tourist Demonstration for the 192 Participating Countries. Taking into account the Cop26 calendar starting 31 October in Scotland, the balance sheet of these first two weeks mainly consists of the UAE’s announcement of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, with 160 billion dollars over the next 30 years. Dollar equivalent investment. The news immediately made a comeback internationally and it raises the bar in a virtuous competition in the Gulf that currently sees the Emirates at the helm of the energy transition in the region.

And there was no shortage of first concrete steps. Siemens Energy, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) and Expo 2020 Dubai will build the region’s first green hydrogen solar powered plant at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai, doubling its contribution to clean energy in the total energy mix . . While news comes from the Malaysia Pavilion that the first two weeks saw a record figure of over $1.73 billion in 14 commercial contracts with companies from different countries.

For Italy, the inaugural week, dedicated to climate and biodiversity, launched Venice as the world capital of sustainability and the 78 floodgates of Moses as an engineering feat now in other coastal cities at risk from similar growth. are ready for export. Water. The pavilion welcomed national energy majors (Eni, Sanam, Saipam, Terna) on the platform to take stock of strategies for the energy transition. It celebrated the beauty of Florence and the Puglia region among the 15 companion areas of the pavilion. This saw the launch of the Higher Education School for Archaeological Heritage in Risk Areas, which will come to life at the Expo 2020 Dubai site. During World Food Day, a focus was placed on the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle, organized by the Future Food Institute and the Italian Agri-Food Technology Cluster, with the support of the Mediterranean Diet Center “Angelo Vasallo”. Visitors also had the opportunity to meet some Olympic medalists, such as Marco di Costanzo (rowing), Abraham Conido Ruano (wrestling), Giorgia Bourdignon (weightlifting).

Masters Ludovico Einaudi and Zubin Metha, who conducted the Maggio Fiorentino Orchestra, performed in front of an international audience. Over the weekend it was the turn of the National Symphony Orchestra of the Italian Conservatories. The pavilion was visited by some captains of the national economy, such as Leonardo Alessandro Profumo CEO and CEO of Ani Claudio Descalzi and was the destination of royal visits from Princess Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai. To the Saudi Sora bint Saud al Saud, who wanted to see David’s wonder for himself. While the hypothesis of the “Uffizi Diffusi” and other possible cultural synergies between Italy and the Arabian Peninsula are already being whispered, the treasure trove of national gems is eager to enrich.

And here we arrive again at an intentionally modern, highly technical copy of David. “In Italy we found a well-made, antique copy – confessed artistic director David Rampelo on the day of the work’s unveiling – but we wanted to do something new, different”. A work that is no longer the sole fruit of a single genius, but a choral work, involving several dozen people and professionals, that links minds in space, between Italy and the United Arab Emirates, and over time, Between the sixteenth century and the present day. Perhaps one of the most successful interpretations of the “connect the mind, create the future” claim.