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| Eye on Expo 2030, Rome Dreams of Reinvigoration | Eye on Expo 2030, Rome Dreams of Reinvigoration |
| (about 8 hours later) | |
| Other visitors to the abandoned sports complex on the edge of Rome might just see muddy puddles, graffitied walls and loose cables blighting their view. Not Matteo Gatto. | Other visitors to the abandoned sports complex on the edge of Rome might just see muddy puddles, graffitied walls and loose cables blighting their view. Not Matteo Gatto. |
| Mr. Gatto, the technical director of Rome’s 10 billion-euro, or about $10.9 billion, bid to host the Expo 2030 world’s fair, envisions a grand exposition hall. In the vast surrounding fields, he sees a winding boulevard spotted with international pavilions and solar-paneled umbrellas. All of it, in his conjuring, is connected to Rome by an extended train line that would bring 30 million people from the Colosseum. | Mr. Gatto, the technical director of Rome’s 10 billion-euro, or about $10.9 billion, bid to host the Expo 2030 world’s fair, envisions a grand exposition hall. In the vast surrounding fields, he sees a winding boulevard spotted with international pavilions and solar-paneled umbrellas. All of it, in his conjuring, is connected to Rome by an extended train line that would bring 30 million people from the Colosseum. |
| “It will be beautiful,” he said. | “It will be beautiful,” he said. |
| But as Italy prepares to give its final pitch in Paris on Tuesday to the 179 international ambassadors who will vote in November on which city will host the Expo, there are two major obstacles standing in the way of Rome’s fantastic, and perhaps fantastical, future. | But as Italy prepares to give its final pitch in Paris on Tuesday to the 179 international ambassadors who will vote in November on which city will host the Expo, there are two major obstacles standing in the way of Rome’s fantastic, and perhaps fantastical, future. |
| The first is the competition. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy will be in France on Tuesday to make Italy’s case. But so will President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, who is pushing for Busan, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who is backing Riyadh in a campaign that, as the Italians see it, has showered public investments on nations in exchange for support. | |
| The second challenge, and perhaps the biggest obstacle to Rome’s grand plan, is one far closer to home: Rome itself. |