Company

COSTA EDUTAINMENT


Costa Edutainment S.p.A, with almost thirty years of pioneering experience in the sector of edutainment, is the leader in Italy in the management of sites and large public and private structures dedicated to recreational, cultural and didactic activities and scientific research.

The word Edutainment, acronym for Educational and Entertainment, is the best definition of our company’s mission: meet the growing request for a qualitative way to spend leisure time, combining culture, education, entertainment, emotion and fun in unique and meaningful experiences.
Costa Edutainment counts today over 13 millions visitors a year, managed directly or through its partners.

Costa Edutainment, manages 12 structures in Italy and abroad: in Liguria the Aquarium of Genoa, one of the largest aquariums in Europe, the Biosphere, the Bigo panoramic lift, La Città dei Bambini e dei Ragazzi, reopened to the public in December 2022 in its revamped guise as an experience museum dedicated to the five senses, the Caravelle water park and the Caravelle Village tourist village in Ceriale; on the Romagna Riviera the Cattolica Aquarium, the Oltremare, Aquafan and Italia in Miniatura parks, and in Tuscany the Livorno Aquarium. It also manages the Mediterraneo Marine Park in Malta.

Costa Edutainment records about 3 million visitors per year managed directly and more than 13 million visitors per year through investees, about 750 employees and a turnover of 70 million euros in 2022.

Costa Edutainment supervised the transformation of the old Zoological Garden of Rome into “Bioparco” (biopark) from 1998 to July 2004, when Bioparco S.p.A. was turned into “Fondazione Bioparco di Roma” (foundation Biopark of Rome).

Since 2004, Costa Edutainment is a member of the “Associazione Festival della Scienza” (Science Festival association); it is the organizer of the scientific exhibition which takes place every year in Genoa and in the Liguria Region at the end of October.
Since 2008, Costa Edutainment is a partner of “Genova Palazzo Ducale Fondazione per la Cultura” (Genova Palazzo Ducale Culture Foundation), an institution instructed to enhance the heritage of the initiatives and of the cultural networks, within a strategy which aims at guaranteeing a strong bond between the urban requalification and the quality of culture, for the city’s benefit.

The entrepreneurial spirit, the strong educational mission and the close relation with the territory, make Costa Edutainment a unique group in Italy, capable of ensuring a high level of local involvement as well as a strong economic impact on the areas where it operates.

Part of the Costa Edutainment Group's share capital with an 18 percent stake is the DeA Capital Group, which entered between 2022 and 2023 through two transactions involving IDeA Corporate Credit Recovery II ("IDeA CCR II") and the Flexible Capital Fund, both managed by DeA Capital.

Since 2014 Costa Edutainment has also chosen to report annually on the non-financial aspects of its business through the Integrated Report;in 2019 the company received the important recognition of the Special Award in the Integrated Reporting category of the Oscar di Bilancio for the Best Italian Integrated Report from Ferpi, Borsa Italiana and Bocconi University.

Costa Edutainment is also involved in Italian Entertainment Network (IEN), an Italian operator in the management of large events and services for cultural activities, of which Beppe Costa, Costa Edutainment Group Chairman, is currently a director.

In September 2023, Beppe Costa through Poggio 13, a company headed by Costa himself, repurchased the bonds and minority shares of Opera20, of which he is currently chairman, held by U.S. investor Pricoa Private Capital, thus acquiring 100 percent ownership. Through its subsidiary Opera Laboratori, Opera20 now manages all the "additional services" of more than 60 Italian cultural so-cieties, including the Uffizi, the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, the Bargello Museums, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and Herculaneum the Royal Palace of Caserta, the Cathedral Complex of Siena, Villa Giulia in Rome, the Pina-coteca di Brera, the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, the Synagogues and Jewish Museums in Florence and Siena ol-tre the Ghetto, the Jewish Museum and the five synagogues in Venice. The Opera Group has 800 employees and a turnover of about 60 million euros, and also owns the publishing house Sillabe.
The transaction aims to develop the industrial integration between the Costa Edutainment and Opera Laboratori groups aimed at consolidating the leadership in Italy in the edutainment sector and in the management and valor-isation of Italian cultural heritage.