On Saturday, July 7, Costa Cruises celebrated its 70th anniversary in Genoa, during Costa Zena Festival, together with the port city.
The waterslide, which was 340 metres long, had been designed and installed to break the Guinness World Record for the longest “slid” in 1 hour. Since 10 o’clock in the morning, locals and tourists had been experiencing the thrill of sliding in the central Via XX Settembre, helping to establish the new record of 775 km in 1 hour.
Costa Zena Festival set another incredible world record: for the longest string of bunting ever. A total of 2,070 traditional maritime signal flags for a length of 2 km: the numbers allowed Costa Cruises to reach its goal, climbing on the highest step of the podium. To signal the areas of the festival, the “Gran Pavese” was hosted on Genoa's streets, from Via XX Settembre to the Old Port.
The party celebrating Costa Cruises’ 70th anniversary continued until night hours: the water slide remained opened for the entire afternoon until the last “slide”, scheduled at 8:00 p.m. The Old Port and Piazza Caricamento were animated by more than 60 performers from all over Europe and 29 singers, DJs, and Genoese comedians.
In Piazza de Ferrari, kids had fun with games and workshops with Peppa Pig mascots and PJ Masks. Piazza delle Feste hosted all the comedy shows by Bruciabaracche, Maurizio Lastrico and many other Genoese comedians, while street musicians, dancers, artists, acrobats, continued to entertain the public at the Old Port and in Piazza Caricamento.
The big concert took place at 8.30 p.m. on Radio 105 stage opposite Piazza delle Feste and hosted some of the best loved singers and bands: Elodie, Michele Bravi, Francesco Gabbani, Ermal Meta, The Kolors, Irama and Moreno. An unmissable concert was staged by the everlasting couple Al Bano and Romina Power from 20:30 at Arena del Mare, singing together again to celebrate “Happiness”, the theme particularly dear to Costa Cruises.