Milan Expo 2015 sets the stage for 1,300 cultural events from May to October

Milano Expo 2015, the world’s fair opening in Milan in May, becomes an opportunity to promote the Italian culture, with art exhibitions, movie productions, theatre shows and concerts: 1,300 cultural events will take place from May to October 2015, from the North to the South of Italy, in addition to the official schedule of Expo.

On Saturday January 24 the Ministry of Cultural Activities Dario Franceschini launched a website dedicated to these events: www.verybello.it. Currently in Italian, the website will be available in English from February 7 and will be translated in Chinese, Russian, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. It will be updated throughout the six months of the world’s fair.

The portal features 12 categories of events along with a calendar of more than 1,300 cultural events that will take place in addition to the official schedule of Expo. The menu includes 250 musical events, 125 theatre shows, 65 ballet productions, and 300 art exhibitions. The events go from the Venice Biennale to Umbria Jazz, from the 33rd edition of the Bellaria Film Festival to the Tour of St Benedict, from Gubbio’s Corsa dei Ceri, or Race of the Candles, to several events for children.

The initiative was presented on Saturday, January 24 at Palazzo Chigi, the seat of the Italian government, by Franceschini, Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina  and Expo commissioner Giuseppe Sala.

On February 7, VeryBello will be introduced to foreign tour operators.
“We will present it during ‘Expo delle idee’ (Expo of Ideas, an event to address the main themes of the world’s fair) to the commissioners of the pavilions of the 140 countries participating in Expo,” Martina said.

“We’ll see how it works. Our intention is to make it a permanent service,” Franceschini said.
The website is designed to be a guide for visitors coming to Italy for the Expo.

VeryBello has been designed to inform and persuade Expo visitors to tour other cities, not only Rome, Venice and Florence  which are already at full capacity. The website is also a first “experimentation of an investment model for Italy, which represents the largest and only diffused museum in the world”, in order to gain competitiveness and appeal, Franceschini said.

“With three months to go, we have already sold a record 8 million tickets, 5 million of which from abroad,” Sala said. One out of two Italians are planning to visit the fair.

Fonte : Il Sole 24 Ore