(ANSA) - MILAN, NOVEMBER 30 - Dismantling has begun on 35 of the national pavilions that took part in Expo Milano 2015 after the exhibition space closed on October 31.

In the theme-based clusters, an element introduced by the Milan Expo (which hosted 84 countries), three quarters of participants have already left the space. In the latter case it was only a matter of dismantling internal areas and thus all clusters will have been handed over by the end of December, said Expo participants chief Stefano Gatti during meeting at the Milan town council. Once the dismantling has been completed, by May 30 (''but the first lots will be handed over to Expo beginning in January'', Gatti said), some of the pavilions will be reassembled in other countries in the world.

In addition to the 12 whose 'destinies' have been announced - Switzerland, Czech Republic, Don Bosco, Azerbaijan, France, Slovenia, Bahrain, Chile, Monaco Save the Children, the UAE and Indonesia - ''another 10 are working on projects to reuse the pavilion'', he noted, including the New Hollande corporate pavilion and the Federalimentare. ''The aim is for at least 20 pavilions to reappear,'' he added, ''in other parts of the world and Italy.'' The 'Tree of Life', the symbol of the Expo, will - as Commissioner Giuseppe Sala noted months ago - remain on the site and until April will be ''frozen''. Some 360,000 euros will be spent in these months for its maintenance by sponsors, while the dismantlement would have cost 500,000 euros. The Tree of Life cost at least 350,000-400,000 euros per month during the six months of the exhibition, fully covered by sponsors. (ANSA).