Once upon a time there were Florence, Venice and Dubai.

It is not the beginning of a joke but of another story in which the protagonist, in addition to the cities, is Michelangelo’s David.

You got it right: the sculpture, a symbol of the Renaissance, of Italy itself and for many other also the canon of male beauty in art, datable between 1501 and 1504, is part of the collection of the Academy of Florence.

David, Michelangelo 1501-1504, Courtesy of Arteworld

And from Tuscany begins a journey that will involve the David but without moving him from where he is.

It will be a clone of it, 3D printed in Venice (Mestre to be precise), leaving for the Emirates on the occasion of Expo 2020 in Dubai (postponed to 1 October 2021 – 31 March 2022 due to Covid) where it will be the focal point of the Italy pavilion.

Dubai Expo 2020, homepage, Padiglione Italia- Courtesy of italyexpo2020.it

The material creator of the new David is 3DVenice, a company specializing in large format printing born from the Litostampa group, which in order to succeed in the enterprise is using innovative techniques, defined as additives, developed in Israel.

Behind the scenes there is also the work of many people with different professions: scientists, university students and professors, technicians, curators and artisans.A project of this magnitude, announced at the beginning of October, is certainly not heard every day and immediately garnered a broad national and international consensus, so much so that it even attracted the attention of the New York Times.

Technician working on David’s 3D print – Courtesy of Il Sole 24Ore

At this point we can’t wait to see the David printed and ready with a ticket booked to Dubai.