Italy: Rome Fiumicino airport welcomes back tourists with Leonardo da Vinci mural

Rome: Rome’s Fiumicino airport, known officially as Leonardo da Vinci, celebrates the gradual restart of tourism in Italy with a new mural by acclaimed street artist TvBoy.

Titled A Second Renaissance – Flying Away From Covid, the mural on the external wall of Terminal 1 features pop portraits of da Vinci and his enigmatic Mona Lisa, portrayed as modern-day travelling companions.

The airport says the artwork heralds a “hoped-for return to normality,” with the two protagonists representing “the desire for freedom, to travel and to put behind the difficulty of the period marked by covid.”

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In the mural a tattoed da Vinci wears an ‘I Love Roma’ t-shirt and carries a face mask, with both character in shades.

TvBoy, whose real name is Salvatore Benintende, says he “welcomed with joy” the proposal by Aerporti di Roma, the management company in charge of Rome’s two international airports, Fiumicino and Ciampino.

“Fiumicino airport, where the theme of travel reigns supreme, is certainly the best place to represent everyone’s unstoppable desire to be able to return to travel between different countries, in freedom and safety” – says Benintende – “this combination of the location and the concept gave me a strong inspiration to create the artwork.”

The mural was unveiled on 1 July, coinciding with the launch of the EU-wide Green Pass and the move of all Italian regions into the lowest-risk ‘white zone’ status under Italy’s system of covid-19 restrictions.

“Operating in an open-air museum like Rome makes it impossible not to think of art as an integral element of our strategy” – stated Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma – “We want to bring a positive and innovative message to our airport in a very difficult time for air transport, trusting that the restart, albeit predictably long, has really started.”

“With the right irony, thanks to the irreverent and ironic language of TvBoy, we want to celebrate the symbolic moment” – said Troncone – “the launch of the European Green Pass – thanks to which we are preparing to welcome back tourists to Italy.”