The Milan Expo team is fine
tuning the experience visitors will have at the world's fair
starting in May, Commissioner Giuseppe Sala told an ANSA forum
here Monday, adding that he would be seeking a more "enjoyable"
job after the six-month event ends in October.
"Infrastructure work is ongoing," Sala told the ANSA forum,
which was coordinated by Editor-in-Chief Luigi Contu.
"Our focus is on the visitor's experience, which means how
people move through the Expo site and what they see," the
commissioner explained.
"We will start setting up turnstiles at the four entrances
next weekend," Sala said.
"We're working on the final touches and the flow of people,"
he said of the turnstiles that will regulate the entry of the
estimate 20 million visitors to Expo.
Sala added that "droves of chefs" are coming to Expo.
"I've never seen so many new restaurants as I have in this
period.
"There is a unique ferment in Milan.
"And we are 'selling' Milan in all its facets," he said.
"There is an opening of restaurants in Milan that I never
saw in the last 50 years.
"When we sell Expo we sell Milan itself a lot and the
things people ask us for are the Duomo (cathedral), the Castle,
the Last Supper, and then there is all the glamour that happens
around Milan.
"Flocks of young chefs are arriving and my personal feeling
is that we need to add food to fashion and design in the mix of
Milanese glam".
Sala said that around 2,000 video cameras will be employed
as part of a massive security operation for this year's World
Fair.
He added that 8.5 tickets have already been sold for the
six-month event, which kicks off in May under the theme Feeding
the Planet, Energy for Life.
Sala said that the Expo site would be protected by
3.15-metre metal fencing and by 600 soldiers, who will be
employed at night, above all.
"Obviously we have prepared a series of other additional
checks," Sala told the forum.
"We are working on it. We'll be ready. For example,
there'll be X-ray checks for all the trucks that enter (the
site)".
Sala said that the event had been given a big boost by an
article in the New York Times, which ranked visiting Expo as one
of the top trips to do this year.
"Up to now, we've sold 8.5 million tickets with two months
to go to the opening," Sala said.
"We're optimistic. We've sold one million tickets in the
United States, 300,000 in Argentina and we'be had a great
response from the Far East, especially China".
A copy of Milan cathedral's iconic Madonnina (Little
Madonna) statue will be on display at Expo, Sala told the ANSA
forum Monday.
Sala said he hoped to be able to announce the placement of
the symbol of Milan later this week.
To see the Madonnina, visitors will have to follow "a path
on a slightly upward slope," he said.
The famed maintenance and restoration unit Veneranda
Fabbrica del Duomo is currently working on the copy.
Sala added he would look for an "enjoyable" job after the
six-month event is over.
"This is an inspiring experience, for a manager it's very
beautiful work, entirely dedicated to managing complexity.
"Afterwards I'll look for a job I enjoy, something fun," he
said.
The ANSA forum in Milan was an opportunity to take stock
of ongoing construction at the site of the six-month world's
fair - which opens May 1 - and to discuss the aftermath of the
event.
Items, features, photos and video footage were broadcast on
the ANSA newswire and on the Ansa.it website.
ANSA has since Sunday been broadcasting news, features,
photos and video footage dedicated to Expo, and publishing them
on http://www.ansa.it/canale_expo2015/.
ITALIAN PAVILION 'HEART' OF EVENT.
The Italian Pavilion at Expo 2015 promises to be the
crossroads for the entire World Fair, given its central location
at the heart of an urban design taken from ancient Rome and
known as the "cardo", where a simple cross delineates the form
of the town.
The cardo was the name given to the street running from
north to south in ancient Roman cities and military camps, and
is replicated in the Italian Pavilion's main street, "Cardo," a
325-square-metre lane flanked by buildings and small squares
designed to evoke the feel of a traditional Italian village,
while also bringing in modern innovation.
Visitors strolling the Cardo will be exposed to a vast
choice of 1,400 different kinds of wines to sample, distributed
from modern automatic dispensers, as well as foods typical to
every region of the country.
At the northern end of the Cardo sits Lake Arena, a pond
covering 90 metres in diameter with pebbles at the bottom that
create a mirrored effect, at whose center sits the iconic
showpiece of the Italian Pavilion: the Tree of Life, the highest
structure on the site at 35 metres tall.
The only building on the Cardo that will remain after Expo
is over is the Palazzo Italia, an architectural feast for the
eyes designed by Nemesi & Partners to evoke the feel of a
sustainable urban forest, in keeping with the Italian Pavilion's
theme based on a plant nursery.
In keeping with the world fair's message of ecological
sustainability, the building itself is nearly zero-energy and
has many innovative features that render it eco-friendly.
Biodynamic concrete panels framing the full 9,000 square
metres of the Palazzo's external facade use light to transform
pollution in the air into inert salts, thereby reducing smog.
Work to complete the five-storey, 12-elevator Palazzo
Italia is taking place 24 hours a day.
There will be a dark market managed by the Blind Institute,
typical neighborhood markets, Renato Guttuso's painting of the
storied Vucciria street market in Palermo, enormous 3D
interactive figures, as well as the chance to sign the Milan
Charter, a sort of Kyoto Protocol on food, that will be
delivered to UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon on October 16.
Peck, the "Italian Temple of Gastronomical Delights", will
host a restaurant within the Italian Pavilion.
The Cardo's cross street, the Decumanus, will host the
Lombardy area, as well as Coldiretti agricultural group's space
whose flooring is made with a special material that simulates
walking on bare earth, and a sensory wall.
Also further along the Decumanus will be a host of Italian
brands, from Granarolo milk, to Lavazza coffee, to Coppini olive
oil, Rigoletto gelato, Poretti beer and San Pellegrino water.
"The Cardo will be fun, and I think it will be very full of
crowds," said Italian Pavilion Commissioner and Expo 2015 S.p.A.
President, Diana Bracco.
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