What happened yesterday at the press conference to present the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, in Bergamo

In one of the magnificent rooms of the Palazzo del Podestà in Piazza Vecchia in Bergamo, the press conference for the presentation, in absolute preview, of the “The Ideal City” project took place. winner of the competition for the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2025 which will be held in Osaka from 13 April to 13 October 2023.

As told here , INTERNI is the communication partner of the Italian Pavilion in partnership with the General Commissariat for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka.

Moderated by the architect Matteo Vercelloni, the press conference was animated by Giorgio Gori, mayor of Bergamo, < strong>Carlo Mandelli, CEO Mondadori Media and Director of Strategic Development of the Group, Vittorio Rodeschini, President Arketipos Landscape Festival, Gilda Bojardi, Director of the INTERNI System, Mario Andrea Vattani, General Commissioner for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka and Mario Cucinella, founder of MCA - Mario Cucinella Architects.

The speech by Giorgio Gori, Mayor of Bergamo

Giorgio Gori, mayor of Bergamo, after thanking participants and guests, with a personal mention of Gilda Bojardi's ability to connect people and actions, shared his personal interpretation of the choice of Bergamo as the host city of this important preview. “Cucinella's project is dedicated to the ideal city - said Giorgio Gori - that city dreamed of and designed already in the Renaissance era where the square represented the public place for meetings and commerce. And Piazza Vecchia in Bergamo is the concrete representation of this image."

The speech by Carlo Mandelli, CEO of Mondadori Media

The word then passed to Carlo Mandelli, who in a quick and timely excursus on the transformation process undergone by publishing in the last 10 years explained what it means to be a publisher today, that is, "conceiving products as brands, but above all knowing how to intercept homogeneous communities and offer them stimuli. This is why we decided to be a communications partner for the Italian Pavilion in Osaka.”

The speech by Vittorio Rodeschini, President of Arketipos

The President of Arketipos and the Landscape Festival Vittorio Rodeschini, after thanking them for choosing the festival as the setting for the presentation, explained what in his opinion are the two points in common that have guaranteed the effective partnership with INTERNI. The first is the work on the project as the result of a work of ingenuity: “It is here in Bergamo during - explained Rodeschini - that we come to know the point about landscape design in the world. Furthermore, the festival, just like the FuoriSalone in Milan, was created to involve the city, stimulating discussions on fundamental themes.”

The speech by Gilda Bojardi, director of INTERNI

“I think it is always important to let actions follow words - continued Gilda Bojardi - which is why we as INTERNI are present in Bergamo this year with three installations presented in preview at University of Milan during the exhibition-event INTERNI Design Re-Evolution on the occasion of the FuoriSalone.

Furthermore, Bergamo, this year with Brescia is the Capital of Culture, therefore it testifies to the concept of Italy and Italianness and, for this reason, we it seemed like the most suitable place to start talking about the Italian Pavilion which will bring our identity to Japan on the occasion of Expo 2025.”

The speech by Mario Andrea Vattani, General Commissioner Expo 2025 Osaka

From the words ofMario Andrea Vattani, General Commissioner for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, we learn that 2025 will bethe third edition of the Expo hosted in Japan , after the 1970 edition, which represented the beginning of what our life has become in the following years, and the 2005 edition, focused on technological innovation and its possibilities for the worlds of art and of creativity.

“Japan is a country that over the centuries opens and closes itself to the outside world in a continuous flow - explains Vattani - And today there are many expectations aimed at Expo 2025, because it is seen as the occasion for the return of major events, after the bad experience of the Tokyo Olympics postponed due to the pandemic. 28 million visitors are expected, of which 80% are from Japan, but also from the countries of South East Asia which are experiencing a period of great turmoil".

Vattani continues by describing the many elements in common between Italy and Japan, but underlines the problematic ones which, often, are those which, once shared, facilitate relations. The aging of the population, for example, which leads to the abandonment of people from rural areas, one of the causes of hydrogeological instability.

Japan, like Italy, is a land of earthquakes. Added to these is a social issue born, or perhaps enhanced by the pandemic, namely youth marginalization. “The difficulties - continues the General Commissioner - we must try to turn them positively and transform them into challenges to be talked about. And that's what we will do in the Italian Pavilion. Therefore, approaching the concrete story of what the Expo in Osaka will be, perhaps you have already seen that it will be built on an island, divided into three areas and we will be hosted in the first:

1. Saving Lives

2. Empowering Lives

3. Connecting Lives”

Mario Cucinella's story: the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka

Finally the word passes to the architect Mario Cucinella who first of all shares the great difficulty of summarizing a complex country like Italy in the design of a pavilion. But it is precisely the choice of the motto "Art regenerates life" that allows us to describe Italy at its best and for Italy to describe itself: for us it is normalto live and live surrounded from art.

The project by MCA - Mario Cucinella Architects involves the development of the pavilion, entitled "The Ideal City", on three themes: the historical story of the artistic research on the ideal city, but not only that, also the story of the ideal cities that actually exist in Italy, such as Palmanova, Sabaudia, Granmichele, which therefore becomes a political story, showing what has been done and what could be done in the future to improve living conditions in cities.

“The theatre, the second theme of the pavilion - continues Cucinella - is symbolically represented by a large backdrop which then allows access to a free, open space, a small square where we tell the third story , that is, knowing how to do things with your hands. We know how to do very well with our hands, I'm thinking of jewellery, shoes, furniture, ceramics. And the square, historically home to the market, is the place in the city that best illustrates the energy of craftsmanship and commerce".

A final suggestion: the pavilion has an upper floor where you can enjoy an Italian-style garden, inhabited by plants and works of art, but also by points of refreshment: "you will be able to eat ice cream - concludes Cucinella - which I was told was missing in the previous edition of the Expo!".

The presentation of the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka continues on 28 September in Bologna on the occasion of the Cersaie fair. For those who wish, however, to review the debate that took place in Bergamo, you can connect on Friday 15 September at h. 9.00 on internamagazine.it.