After more than twenty years since the start of the works, the Calatrava Sail is ready to return to the forefront of the architectural and urban panorama of the capital. Thanks to an investment of 80 million euros, the imposing structure designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has finally been completed and returned to the city. Mapei, a leading manufacturer of chemical products for the building industry, has made a significant contribution to the redevelopment of the work, carried out by the joint venture made up of Sac SpA and Natura e Architettura Srl, providing cutting-edge technologies to ensure durability, safety and quality.
Originally born as the center of the "City of Sport" in view of the 2009 World Swimming Championships, Calatrava's Vela has remained a symbol of incompleteness for years. Located in the Tor Vergata district, the structure has experienced a long period of abandonment, despite the fact that over the years several attempts have been proposed to recover the project. Today, thanks to the joint commitment of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the State Property Agency and the Jubilee Commissioner's Structure, the 15,000-seat arena shines again, ready to host sporting, cultural and religious events. The first major event will be the Youth Jubilee of 2025, which on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August will see thousands of young people led by Pope Leo XIV.
Mapei, which is present in the area with a commercial headquarters in Rome and a production plant in Latina, has supplied innovative and sustainable technologies and materials for the redevelopment. Thanks to the wide range of solutions, the company has been able to make a decisive contribution by intervening in many areas: from the protection of concrete surfaces to the sealing and regularization of the grandstand steps, from the waterproofing of the stands to the resin coating of the floors, up to the application of non-slip finishes on the surfaces treated in polyurea.
The redevelopment project was not limited to the arena alone: the intervention involved a total area of 48 hectares, transformed into a multifunctional public space. Around the Vela, a large urban park with 460 trees, 300 hedges and over 6,000 shrubs offers a green area to the city. The inauguration of the driveway bridge over the Rome-Naples motorway, with a direct junction towards Tor Vergata, improves accessibility to the area, making it an urban hub dedicated to sport, well-being, culture, environment and research.
Calatrava's Vela thus becomes a living, accessible and inclusive place, a symbol of urban regeneration that represents much more than an architectural intervention. Mapei is proud to have contributed to this important project, putting its expertise and commitment to sustainable and quality construction at the service of Rome and its citizens.
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