-With art, investments and focus on aerospace, technology-

 OSAKA, Aug. 27, 2025/ANSA=Kyodo JBN/ --

An inauguration ceremony at the Italy Pavilion has opened the week dedicated to the Basilicata region at Expo 2025 Osaka.

The Region over the course of seven days will showcase many of its trademark features, including the most popular as well as the least-known such as its role in the aerospace sector.

The exhibition space showcases Basilicata through a multisensorial installation called Motherland with at the centre a video portraying a garden in which images, sounds and smells merge in a space where technology meets nature.

The oeuvre has been created by visual artist Silvio Giordano and commissioned by the Agriculture Department in cooperation with the department’s rural development agency.

The installation represents the theme of nature, as well as the sectors of aerospace and mechatronics.

The councillor for agricultural, food and forestry policies, Carmine Cicala, stressed that Basilicata has achieved the “ability” to “innovate within tradition”, something “Japan has done over the years”.

Moreover, he noted, the points of contact between the Italian region and Expo’s host country are not limited to this issue as the two cultures are “very similar”, as shown by the traditional “anthropological masks of Lucania (Basilicata’s historic name) and those we find here in Japan”.

Indeed the exhibition area showcases archaic and symbolic masks of the region’s Carnival which have been digitally recreated through the use of generative artificial intelligence.

Basilicata is also displaying in the exhibition area’s niches artwork and artisanal pieces including Manuela Telesca’s sculptural jewels representing the Sassi, the famous ancient cave dwellings in Matera’s historic centre which were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.

Also on display are works by the Nuova Libbaneria Mediterranea which uses vegetable fibres to make music rugs and jewels, and the ceramic art created by Giustina Piglia.

Other highlights are Forme Srls, which uses a 3D print technique on pottery to recreate the ‘chichimo’, an ancient container for water and wine, and Damiana Spoto’s graphic patterns portraying the region’s woods to decorate scarves and fabrics.

Antonella Torre’s precious Soutache trimmings in fabric and stones, and Marianna Martina D’Aquino’s ancient loom are also on display, along with the Mask of Tricarico, the Rumit of Satriano, a traditional Carnival figure covered in leaves which announces the arrival of spring, and the Mask of Aliano.

However, Basilicata is not only showcasing art.

A protagonist of the week dedicated to the southern region at the Italy Pavilion is also technology, with events on mechatronics and sustainable mobility and a workshop called 'ReRural: We Live in Smart Village', along with virtuous examples of investments in the region made by local companies.

Indeed representatives of Japanese companies that have chosen to invest in the country will talk about their experience at an event organized with the Business and Made in Italy Ministry - ‘Japan talks about Italy, Investing in Basilicata’.

The Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka Mario Vattani stressed that “the very beautiful exhibit is thrilling the public, tens of thousands of Japanese will cross this space” in the coming days.

The commissioner general added that visitors will “get to known the best of Basilicata’s innovation” which also boasts “the aerospace cluster that includes in its story some themes that are part of our visitor experience”.

The Italy Pavilion, concluded Vattani, represents "an Italian platform for our companies, for everything we have to present among our excellencies in a region of the world, Asia, which is today truly fundamental for our economy".

Source: General Commissioner’s Office of Italy for Expo 2025 Osaka