L'Esposizione Internazionale Specializzata Genova '92 - Colombo '92 (in English ''International Exhibition Genoa '92 - Colombo '92'') or more informally Expo 1992, was held in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

from 15 May to 15 August 1992. The theme was "

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

, The Ship and the Sea", and the Expo was timed to celebrate the 500 years since the discovery of America by the Genoese sailor Christopher Columbus. Because of the theme, the expo was also known as ''Colombiadi''. It was a specialized Exhibition with 54 countries represented. Total visitors were 694,800. The exposition ran at the same time as the larger and longer duration

Seville Expo '92 The Universal Exhibition of Seville 1992 – Expo '92 (officially: ) was a universal exhibition held from Monday 20 April to Monday 12 October 1992, at the , in Seville, Spain. The theme for the expo was "The Age of Discoveries", celebrating the ...

, a Universal Exposition, held in the city from whose port (on the

Guadalquivir The Guadalquivir (, also , , ) is the fifth-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second-longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable from Seville ...

) Columbus had sailed in 1492. The expo's logo was a "500" number with Genoa's flag; the mascot was a cat dressed like Christopher Columbus called "Gatto Cristoforo"

Exposition

The International Exposition of Genoa '92 was held at the Porto Antico and allowed the entire redesign of the area, designed by the architect Renzo Piano. The aquarium hosted the sea's pavilion and the ship "Italia" hosted the ship's pavilion. Other important places were "Piazza delle Feste", a covered square, the "Magazzini del Cotone" an old port structure that now hosts the conference center, "Porta Siberia" a historical port's fortress and the "Palazzina Millo".

Participants

54 countries attended the event officially (three unofficially) and, initially, it was announced that the Expo reached about 1.7 million visitors, of 3,000,000 provided, but the count was later revised in only about 800,000 visitors. In the fall of 1992, it was discovered that the actual visitors were less than what was announced at first and that the Ente Colombo, who ran the event, had collected only 13 billion compared to 45 billion planned. Because of the false news circulated and the lack of success of the event, the Mayor Romano Merlo, who was also president of Colombo, resigned and was replaced by Deputy Mayor Claudio Burlando. The guest of honor was the Government of the Bahamas, where Christopher Columbus first landed in the Americas on the island of

Guanahani Guanahaní (meaning "small upper waters land") was the Taíno language, Taíno name of an island in the Bahamas that was the first land in the New World sighted and visited by Christopher Columbus' Voyages of Christopher Columbus#First voyage (14 ...

. Sculptures called "Obelisk" by Alessandro Matta and "Dolphin" by Bruno Elisei were displayed in the Bahamian hall, in homage to Columbus.(cat. uff. "Cristoforo Colombo la Nave e il Mare" ed. Ente Colombo "92, - cat. del Pad. ed. San Salvador Development the Bahamas, Commissario Generale delle Bahamas dott. Roberto Savio). (Genova 1992, catalogo Espo "Cristoforo Colombo: la nave e il mare" - Catalogo Padiglione Bahamas " San Salvador development committee the Bahamas"

References

External links

Official website of the BIE

World's fairs in Italy 1992 in Italy Culture in Genoa Events in Genoa 20th century in Genoa {{Italy-culture-stub