"Open Day" at the G8: Thousands Visit the Summit Venue in Coppito
13/07/2009
Over 5,000 people visited the Guardia di Finanza Inspectors' Campus in Coppito over the past weekend. The G8 Summit venue in L'Aquila threw open its doors to allow the public to inspect the places that greeted the World's Leaders during the Summit from 8 to 10 July.
Visitors included numerous families who lost their homes in the earthquake on 6 April and who are currently living in shelter centres or in accommodation in the hotels along the coast. This visit enabled them to inspect the places on which the media have been shining the spotlight over the past few days: the Summit rooms, the dining rooms and the lodgings used by the Heads of State and Government Leaders, the Media Village, and the three exhibitions organized in Coppito for the G8 Summit.
The exhibitions – two of which are devoted to Italian and Abruzzese art, while the third is devoted to the earthquake and to the reconstruction process – proved to be a major attraction for the public, especially for the children. But the most visited place of all was the Main Conference hall, the room that has symbolized this Summit. On entering the hall, visitors were greeted by the Capestrano Warrior, a 6th c. B.C.E. limestone statue considered to be the symbol and guardian of Abruzzo, which is one of the reasons it was brought to the Guardia di Finanza Inspectors'campus from the National Archaeological Museum in Chieti. The Civil Protection Department, which is responsible for the statue, built a special seismically isolated base for it to ensure that no harm would befall it in the event of fresh earth tremors.
The public who visited Coppito on Saturday 11 and Sunday July were also invited to two concerts held by the Solisti Aquilani and the "Alfredo Casella" Aquila Music Conservatory, the very same musicians who performed for the Heads of State and Government Leaders during the Summit.
