The Milan Expo 2015 world's fair is
the manifestation of a great recovery in the country, Italian
Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has said as the food-themed
event this week welcomed high-profile visitors including US
First Lady Michelle Obama and British Premier David Cameron.
"During this period, Expo is at the center of the world
because the message for the world's future arrives from there",
the minister told representatives of the Italian community at
the New York consulate on Thursday evening.
The Universal Exposition was under the spotlight on
Thursday when Michelle Obama took her campaign for healthy
eating overseas and visited the food-themed event, which runs
under the banner 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life'.
Michelle Obama, a leading advocate for healthy lifestyles
and fighting childhood obesity through her Let's Move program,
led an American delegation visiting Expo, which included the US
Ambassador to Italy John R. Philips and top chef Mario Batali.
She was accompanied by daughters Malia and Sasha and her
mother, Marian Robinson and was received at Palazzo Italia - the
heart of the Italy Pavilion - by Premier Matteo Renzi's wife
Agnese Landini Renzi, Expo Commissioner and CEO Giuseppe Sala,
Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina and Radical Party veteran
and ex-foreign minister Emma Bonino.
The first lady was then taken around an exhibition on
Italian architecture and natural beauty at Palazzo Italia, while
the 'first daughters' used an electric vehicle for a quick tour
of the United States, Brazil, Nepal, South Korea, United Arab
Emirates and Kuwait pavilions.
Other high-profile visitors this week included British
Premier David Cameron, who on Wednesday saw the British sites at
Expo and met with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
Also, Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy attended the opening of
Spanish day on Monday at the world's fair.
Expo Commissioner Sala on Thursday said the overall number
of visitors in June was on the rise from the previous month,
when 2.7 million people toured Expo after its May 1
inauguration.
Official numbers on June attendance will be released by
organizers at the end of the month.
Overall in May the volume of economic transactions in Milan
grew 15% from May 2014 last year, according to a report by the
Italian spending observatory Osservatorio Acquisti Carta Sì
quoted by Sala on Thursday.
And the commissioner also expressed the hope that the
first lady's Expo tour will attract a growing number of visitors
from the United States, where 700,000 fair's tickets have been
purchased.
About 15 million tickets have so far been sold for the
Universal Exposition, which has registered the record
participation of 140 countries through single-nation pavilions
and thematic clusters.
Organizers hope it will attract between 20 and 25 million
visitors before it wraps up on October 31.
Meanwhile the world's fair is proving to be a major
attraction also on social media where its official Facebook and
Twitter pages have garnered two million followers.
On Facebook, Expo obtained 1.7 million 'likes' while the
event has 591,000 followers on Twitter.
According to online monitoring service Reputation Manager,
450,060 comments have been tweeted on Expo from its inauguration
on May 1 through June 12.
The Italian pavilion is one of the most discussed on social
media among the fair's 53 single-nation pavilions with the
Tuscan area and market organized by the blind union most often
mentioned as interesting attractions.
The Japanese and South Korean pavilions are also very
popular on social media while Switzerland, Germany and Brazil
are considered as the most fun by followers, according to
Reputation Manager.
Meanwhile, the most photographed Expo attractions on photo
and video-sharingsocial network Instagram are reportedly the
35-meter-high structure that is the symbol of the Italian
pavilion - called Albero della Vita (Tree of Life) - and Italy's
pavilion itself.
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