Here is the new Aquarium of Rome, but the fish are not there yet

July 2nd is a day to be inscribed in large letters on the decennial affair of the Aquarium of Rome: "The sites are finally finished and we can proceed to the preparation of the commercial zone", explains Marco Staderini, President of Rome. , to the press during the pre-opening, preview of the formal presentation evening, at which the principal representatives of the institutions were invited ("I will ask Minister Bonisoli to intervene with the Superintendent to eliminate a restriction that does not not allow to close the entrance – says in the margins Staderini – when it's raining marble stairs are dangerous ").

The aquarium is (or almost) but still lacks fish. The news, a few weeks from this visit, are in Arsenale23's bright installations, with fountains and water games, projections – as in the area of ​​3,000 square meters where it seems to be walking at waterfront, with turtles, other amphibians and fishes projected on the ground – with the commercial area that, in fact, is ready to open 90%, despite the same responsible for the continuous structure in the expectation, from the certainty of an opening to the public: We will say this in the coming days – says Staderini – when Marlin's technicians will have done the inspection of the structure of the l & # 39; aquarium and start filling the water tanks. "

The operation has already taken place a few years ago, but this need for a new control to determine the opportunity or not of other adjustments.After a few months of setting in place of the fish, mandatory before showing the public the Sea Life area, here finally is that the Aquarium of Rome can be opened to the public: "We plan to open for the end of this year – comments Staderini – but in the coming days, after the inspection, we will give a communication on this subject ". Will be 5,000 specimens of 100 species, from all the seas, that will animate the Sea Life which, in the dreams of Domenico Ricciardi, president of Mare Nostrum, will become a kind of warning for the 3 million visitors expected by the forecast: "This is not it's a fun shop.We have collaborated with major research organizations to have a state-of-the-art aquarium, a model to study to educate the visitors to the defense of our sea. "Until then, and starting in September, the structure will be open to invitations, for private events, and is already booked for June 6 for a congress. engineers, in the events area.

It can be said that in early 2019 about 7 thousand square meters, of 18 thousand in total, will be open to the public, including the exhibition area of the virtual aquarium (with robot fish designed by Rome Biomedical Campus that can be used as an avatar in the application). The remaining 10 thousand square meters of the exhibition area are missing, the most dedicated to entertainment with activities in Virtual Reality and Augmented but which, to this day, is still an open, unusable site, as well as the l & # 39; Auditorium with 400 seats: it only lacks editing, it takes little to finish – says Staderini – we will use it for lectio and events with Piero and Alberto Angela. The deadline for the completion of the works is June 2019, date at which the agreement with Eur Spa expires, which should be 5% down payment from 2019, and work will be returned from 2048, when the aquarium will become owned by Eur Spa.

In ten years, 120 million euros have been spent, without public funds, for a structure of 18 thousand square meters which: "valued an artificial lake" – proudly reiterates Domenico Ricciardi – we still have a debt $ 10 million to suppliers that we will soon solve. " And the delays? "They were caused by the change in legislation imposed after the earthquakes. We had to start all over again, the banks closed the financing and so there was also the blocking of payments by the suppliers. But now everything is fine, "concludes Staderini.