This is what Casa Italia will look like at the Paris 2024 Olympics

On the occasion of the XXXIII Olympic Games scheduled to take place in Paris from July 26 to August 11, 2024, CONI has chosen a symbolic Olympic venue to welcome the athletes of the Italy Team and its guests: Casa Italia Paris 2024 will be set up at Le Pré Catelan, a Napoleon III-style building nestled in the city’s largest park, the Bois de Boulogne, a short walk from the Champs Élysées. It was in this very building, which was inaugurated in 1856 and immediately entered the hearts of the citizens of the Ville Lumière, that the dinner celebrating the birth of the Olympic Games of the modern era desired by Baron Pierre de Coubertin was held on the evening of June 23, 1894.

For Paris 2024, Casa Italia creates a strong symbolic and, at the same time, concrete link with the “Father” of the modern Olympics and with France, the closest “brother” country since the time of the Roman Empire, which through its revolt initiated a process of awareness of community being and democratic principles. Of the motto Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité that characterizes the French Revolution, Casa Italia Paris 2024 focuses on Brotherhood, the term most in tune with the founding values of the Olympic spirit and the most necessary in this era torn by new conflicts and pandemic threats, to imagine a new utopia and a new peace. Brotherhood, in fact, presupposes collaboration, cooperation, common construction, but also the narrative of Italian identity, the result of centuries of encounters with other peoples, other cultures and continuous stratifications. Recognizing in the other our brother regardless of the differences that make each individual unique, is one of the great teachings of the Olympic movement, and likewise, in its uniqueness, Italy is the tangible example of how the encounter with otherness creates cultural wealth and development.

From all this comes Ensemble, the concept at the basis of the Casa Italia Paris 2024 project, a new stage in an evolutionary process that over the years has gradually transformed the athletes’ home from Hospitality House to an internationally recognized brand capable of telling the story of Italian culture and the Country System through its excellences. Ensemble is the coherent and most recent landing place of this path that began in Rio 2016 with Horizontal (the contamination between cultures), continued in PyeongChang 2018 with Prospectum (the Italian point of view in the encounter with different civilizations), then on to Tokyo 2020 with Mirabilia (an edition under the banner of Wonder), and further on to Beijing 2022 with Millium (travel as a metaphor of existential journey), culminating in Milan Cortina in 2026. Evoking images of harmony and consonance, the concept of Ensemble - a term also linked to music and fashion, two pillars of both French and Italian modern cultural identity - acquires additional symbolic value at the stage that marks the return of the Olympic Games to Europe after twelve years.

Developing the concept of Ensemble, Casa Italia Paris 2024 will transform Le Pré Catelan - a building articulated in several rooms flooded with light, thanks to the numerous windows and the garden surrounding it - into a true scenic and emotional journey, a total work in which nature, art, architecture, furniture design and light design are in very close dialogue with each other. The revision of the garden with the inclusion of essences belonging to the Italian landscape, the works of art, the setting up of the rooms and the design give life to another space, inspired by the great interiors of our tradition, by the masters of the 20th century who have made Italian creativity famous throughout the world and shaped that vocation for hospitality that has always distinguished us.

The itinerary is punctuated by the works of 19 leading artists of Italian contemporary art - Vincenzo Agnetti, Marco Bernardi, Giovanni Bonotto, Sergio Breviario, Claire Fontaine, Paolo Delle Monache, Alberto Di Fabio, Agostino Iacurci, Francesco Jodice, Margherita Moscardini, Matteo Nasini, Gabriele Picco, Julie Polidoro, Riccardo Previdi, Edoardo Tresoldi, Marinella Senatore, Stalker, Patrick Tuttofuoco, Fabio Viale - and by the creations of 28 internationally renowned designers for 9 companies that constitute the excellence of Italian design. And we find: Francesco Binfaré, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Jacopo Foggini, Masanori Umeda for Edra, Marco Lavit, Patrick Norguet, Marcello Ziliani for Ethimo, Mario Bellini, Piero Lissoni, Patricia Urquiola, Tokujin Yoshioka for Glas Italia, Ron Arad, Tord Boontje, Sebastian Herkner, Marc Thorpe for Moroso, Brodie Neill for Riva 1920 who are the companies that have been alongside Casa Italia for several years. They were joined by: Monica Armani, Mario Bellini, Antonio Citterio, Piero Lissoni, Gaetano Pesce, Patricia Urquiola for B&B Italia, Michael Anastassiades, Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Piero Lissoni, Jasper Morrison, Barber & Osgerby, Marcel Wanders for Flos, De Pas - D’Urbino - Lomazzi, Ettore Sottsass, Superstudio for Poltronova, Formafantasma, Nava+Arosio for Rubelli.

The architectural design rests on the link between the new and the existing, between artifice and nature; the first declination of the Ensemble concept is that of interweaving, already inherent in the Olympic Circles. According to sociologist Tim Ingold’s interpretation, the world, in this case the Olympic world, can be thought of as a mesh, a fabric of lines knotted together where the knots are the center of things. It is the fabric that makes manifest the interweaving of threads, that is, the idea of building together through ties, and it is the fabric that is the main material of the setting of Casa Italia. Conceived as a series of rooms within rooms, the Casa appears as a succession of new rooms installed in the nineteenth-century architecture of Pré Catelan through the use of a semi-transparent fabric, in a continuous process of mutual enhancement that also reverberates in the outdoor spaces.

This incessant osmosis also emerges in the furnishings in which a careful selection of iconic design elements, both from the past and contemporary, emphasizes a strong dialogue, both aesthetic and of meaning with the context and the setting, through the choice of shapes, colors, and materials.

Great attention has been paid to environmental sustainability. In fact, the predominant use of natural and recycled fabrics, which decrease the overall weight of transporting the fitting materials, thus lowering CO2 emissions, allows the project to be sustainable and reduce the impact on the ecosystem. Italian design objects that are inherently sustainable are also used in the furnishings, not only because of the efforts put in place by all the companies involved in the design of the product life cycle with virtuous processes, but in that they are then intended to last over time and be handed down. Many design elements were chosen or designed to express this ecological sensibility through a strong aesthetic and material component: furniture in wood, terracotta, enameled lava, raw fabrics, cellulose, and recycled plastic. The press room at Casa Italia, for example, will also be zero-impact thanks to the protocol signed with the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Safety, and the support of Federlegno and its member companies. Sustainability is a further landing of the Ensemble concept because the climate disruptions and environmental disasters of the present and near future can only be thought of in a dimension of collective collaboration.

The exhibition itinerary begins outside the House with a copy of the Italy sign found at the entrance to the historic Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, a tribute to one of the most important art events at the international level. Continuing on, one is greeted by the work Sacral created by sculptor Edoardo Tresoldi and inspired by the forms of the Renaissance baptistery, a true symbolic and physical gateway that, through an interweaving of metal meshes, transports us inside the dimension of Ensemble. From here, walking along a monumental tree-lined avenue, and enhanced by lighting, we reach the space in front of Le Pré Catelan, reconfigured as a symbolic Italian Piazza, a space of encounter and welcome. This square is overlooked by the two pavilions dedicated to the Media Factory and the bistro, but above all by the main building, whose façade houses a site-specific work by Agostino Iacurci, entitled Ensemble, which is a reinterpretation of the Tricolor in his typical style, in which natural images and the reinterpretation of classical aesthetics are blended. Crossing the entrance to the main building begins the system of “rooms within rooms,” shows a structure of mutual enhancement. Here stands out the Olympic medal stand, which will grow during the days of the competition, and will be encompassed and embellished by a tapestry by Giovanni Bonotto that will cover all the walls, creating an immersive environment by enhancing the Ensemble through the cultural, historical, geological, landscape, gastronomic, and linguistic variety of Italy, which makes it special in the world. Marking the entrance to the heart of the House is Marinella Senatore’s luminous work We Rise by Lifting Others, which echoes a famous quote by Robert Ingersoll, We Rise by Lifting Others, and speaks of the power of helping others and the positive impact it can have on ourselves.

The Gallery’s spacious entrance is designed as an abstract and elegant environment, lined with fabric whose yellow color floods the space with light, amplifying its physical and symbolic value. The visitor will be greeted by a series of works, and the first is that of an absolute protagonist of the second half of the 20th century, conceptual artist Vincenzo Agnetti, who died in 1981, with the iconic work Tra me e te l’infinito inesistente. Also in the Gallery, the work by French-born and Roman-by-adoption artist Julie Polidoro entitled All the Great Equal Countries celebrates the Olympic spirit by annulling the hierarchies between countries of the world due to territorial size in a map in which the various nations become a multitude of shapes and colors. Another artistic connection between Italy and France can be found in Fabio Viale’s sculpture, a contemporary reinterpretation of Canova’s Cupid and Psyche housed in the Louvre, in which Venus is rendered black by an integral tattoo, in a clear hymn to the love of diversity. The link between the two countries and between the dimension of sustainability and the Ensemble concept is then found in the painting We Are All Collaborating by the Italian-French collective Claire Fontaine, which draws attention to the issue of environmental emergency. The overall concept of Casa Italia Paris 2024 becomes absolutely manifesto in the work by Margherita Moscardini who in (Ou la mort) extrapolates the most neglected word of the famous French motto to make it the most important one and capable of summarizing also the concepts of freedom and equality by repeating Fraternité, Fraternité, Fraternité.

In the spaces of the Gallery, the idea of relationship and bonding shifts to the double plane of the infinitely small and the infinitely large in Alberto Di Fabio’s work, Vita Astrale, which introduces us to the mysterious and fascinating phenomena of Nature, making forays into the cellular world as well as among the constellations, in a vision to which everything is connection and synthesis of the universe. Among the most impressive works exhibited at Casa Italia is certainly the Flying Carpet made by the Stalker collective, together with the exiled Kurdish community in Rome, in which 41472 hemp ropes with copper terminals reproduce the muqarnas of the ceiling of the Palatine Chapel in Palermo, a symbol of a millenary culture of welcome that holds together Greek, Latin, Arab and Norman cultures.

In this environment we also find the colorful bronze sculpture Italiana by Paolo delle Monache, the work makes express reference to Italy and its wonders, celebrating the uniqueness of our territory derived precisely from the variety of elements that make it memorable.

The heart of Casa Italia, at the center of the Gallery and surrounded by the artworks, will be the Celebration Room, a cylinder, a true epicenter of Le Pré Catelan’s celebration of sports and Italy and its medals. Inside, the space is wrapped in screens and designed as a contemporary amphitheater where the celebration of the athlete is the ritual that cadences the day. The rest of the time, however, it becomes the place for the representation of Italian excellence in all its aspects: a visual explosion of digital works of art, images of the Bel Paese, and multimedia content that flow in sequence and convey the high value of Italy.

Not far away, the lounge, characterized by a long perimeter window separating the interior from the garden, is imagined as a space dilated outward, as if inside and outside were one in which the only protagonist is the vegetation of the Bois de Boulogne.

The selection of furniture aims to reinforce this idea of nullifying the boundary between inside and outside, and to recreate internally a real landscape, fluid and permeated by natural elements where colors become earthy and natural. In the garden, multicolored furniture punctuates the space like flowers, where a relationship will be activated between the new outdoor rooms and the surrounding landscape, between the Mediterranean essences of Casa Italia and the local vegetation of the park.

On the upper floor of the Pré Catelan, people are immediately greeted by Fun with Flags, a series of works by Riccardo Previdi in which the Milanese artist amuses himself by superimposing and mixing different flags of the world to give life to unusual and colorful patterns. The exhibition continues with the triptych Time Capsule by visual artist Patrick Tuttofuoco, who insists on the theme of interweaving, in this case that of hands knotting together to become a universal symbol of brotherhood. For Francesco Jodice, on the other hand, mutual support and collaboration are not an acquired condition, rather an invitation, a hope, a tension that seems to explode from the photographic diptych The Surfers, in which numerous surfers, in the waters of a suspended and almost metaphysical sea, all wait together for the arrival of the wave, a metaphor for an unknown that can only be faced collectively. From Jodice’s tension, we move on to the joy expressed by Gabriele Picco’s two canvases, Lasciarsi attraversare dall’arcobaleno and Nuotando nel cielo, a feeling that springs from the experience of encountering the other. Also on this floor we find Paolo delle Monache’s second work entitled Serendipity, a column, in which we recognize numerous Italian monuments, envelops an individual and protects, supports, constitutes him.

The sinuously shaped bas-reliefs by Bergamo artist Sergio Breviario entitled Bianca and Marion are intended to highlight the extraordinary complexity of each individual, which should not be judged but welcomed with curiosity. The walk among the works of art concludes first with Messa a Terra a series of four fabric wall sculptures in which artist Marco Bernardi, inspired by Masaccio, rereads the story of Adam and Eve as an archetypal form of brotherhood from which humanity will originate; then, finally, with Neolithic Sunshine, a work by Matteo Nasini that encapsulates the entire concept of Casa Italia Paris 2024, Ensemble, and the universalistic values of the Olympic spirit: colorful columns composed of woolen threads cite the theme of interweaving and make explicit how there is no possibility of construction without collaboration among individuals and without respect for the diversity of each.

Again, the continuous cross-reference between inside and outside marks the second floor of the Pré Catelan where the prevailing color of the setting is green, enhanced by the lush vegetation visible through the large windows. In the Athletes lounge, the setting is intended to evoke the “sky in a room,” becoming a metaphor for the accomplishment of the athlete’s feat, a blue sky characterized by soft and fluffy furnishings where a large cloud sofa stands out in the room and the mirrored ceiling multiplies the depth to give a sense of suspension.

A fundamental element of cohesion between landscape, architecture, art and design is light. Casa Italia has worked on the enhancement of individual excellences, from the works of artists to those of designers, from the set design to the landscaping, weaving a unique canvas in a perceptual and narrative path, day and night, capable of capturing every single moment of the House, emphasizing it in its entirety.

The collaboration between businesses, artisans and creative intelligence of designers enhances the primary value of Casa Italia, that of hospitality. Dialogue is established, in fact, first and foremost through care for the visitor’s functionality and experience by making them feel at home. Therefore, Casa Italia wants to be a home space for Italian athletes, but also for national and international guests who will be able to experience Italy and Italian sport also thanks to the production of original content proposed.

This is what Casa Italia will look like at the Paris 2024 Olympics

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