Italy Pavilion
| Italy Pavilion | |
|---|---|
| Park | EPCOT |
| Land / area | World Showcase |
| Type | Pavilion |
| Opened | October 1, 1982
|
| Status | Operating |
The Italy Pavilion is a pavilion in World Showcase at EPCOT at Walt Disney World, Florida, located between the Germany Pavilion and The American Adventure at the far side of World Showcase Lagoon. One of the nine original pavilions, it opened on October 1, 1982. Its piazza draws principally on Venice, with elements from Florence and Rome, and like Germany it has no ride: its attractions are its architecture, its restaurants, its shops and its street performers.
Early plans for the pavilion were more ambitious than what opened. Designs included an indoor dark ride through Roman ruins and a gondola attraction; neither was built, and the pavilion opened, as it remains, centred on an open square. Its position at the midpoint of the lagoon's far shore gives it one of the clearest views in World Showcase back toward Spaceship Earth.
Design
The pavilion is organised as a Venetian piazza. Its tallest element is a campanile modelled on St Mark's Campanile in Venice, built at reduced scale with the original's pattern of brick, arched belfry openings and pyramidal spire; beside it stands a facade quoting the Doge's Palace, with its two-tone stonework and arcaded loggias reproduced in miniature. A column topped by a statue of Saint Theodore, one of the two patron columns at the entrance to St Mark's Square, completes the Venetian group.
The rest of the square mixes sources. Stucco buildings with tiled roofs and shuttered windows suggest Florence and Rome as much as Venice; the Neptune Fountain at the rear of the piazza recalls Florentine sculpture; and formal planting, cypress-like trees and a small stage for performers fill the remaining space. Shops and restaurant entrances open directly off the piazza, giving Italy a more urban character than the garden pavilions elsewhere on the lagoon.
Dining
Dining has become the pavilion's principal draw, and its restaurant lineup changed substantially in the late 2000s. The original table-service restaurant, L'Originale Alfredo di Roma Ristorante, operated from 1982 until 2007, claiming a lineage from the Rome restaurant associated with fettuccine Alfredo.
It was replaced in 2008 by Tutto Italia Ristorante, serving pasta, seafood and other Italian dishes in a formal dining room and on a terrace. In 2010 the Patina Group added Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria at the rear of the pavilion, built around three wood-fired ovens named for Italian volcanoes — Etna, Vesuvio and Stromboli — and making pizza in the Neapolitan style with imported flour, San Marzano tomatoes and mozzarella. Tutto Gusto, a wine cellar and small-plates bar adjoining Tutto Italia, opened in 2012. On the promenade, the Gelateria Toscana kiosk sells gelato and Italian pastries.
Shopping and entertainment
The pavilion's shops sell Italian leather goods, clothing, Murano-style glass and foodstuffs; La Bottega Italiana and Il Bel Cristallo are the longest established. A perfume shop, added in the 2010s, extended the retail into the pavilion's rear arcade.
Street theatre is a fixture of the piazza. For many years its best-known act was Sergio, a mime and juggler who performs with audience volunteers, alongside flag-throwing and musical groups in period costume. During EPCOT's festivals the pavilion hosts Italian food and wine kitchens on the promenade, and its restaurants are among the most heavily booked in World Showcase.