The opening ceremony of Italian Week, an event that inaugurated the week during which National Day will be celebrated on September 12, has been held at Expo 2025 Osaka.
Over 100 tricolour ribbons uniting the Italy Pavilion to the Grand Ring of Expo, strengthening the image of an ideal connection between Japan and Italy, were among the many highlights of the event, as well as the traditional Japanese dance of Awa Odori performed by 70 dancers from the Awa Odori Association & Awa Odori Promotion Association of the Prefecture of Tokushima.
Many members of the media covered the ceremony, including from helicopters.
Italy is the only country devoting seven days to the event and the only one that has reserved the largest room at Expo 2025 Osaka for the National Day ceremony, the Shining Hat.
Big crowds of visitors were intrigued and stopped to enjoy the show.
And many authorities attended the inauguration, led by the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, Mario Vattani.
They included leading representatives of the universal exhibition such as Dimitri Kerkentzes, Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions (Bie), Koji Haneda, Commissioner General of Expo 2025 Osaka, Hiroyuki Ishige, Secretary General of the Japan Association for Expo 2025 Osaka.
Italian authorities included Italy’s Consul General in Osaka, Filippo Manara, Matteo Zoppas, President of the ICE Agency, Paolo Bellino, CEO & General Manager of Rcs Sport that organized the event ‘Cycling as a catalyst for change’, focusing on the bike economy and Made in Italy as a driving force of the international cycling industry.
Also at the event were the Director of the Holy See Pavilion Stefano Riccardi and representatives of local authorities Pierluigi Biondi, Mayor of L’Aquila, Antonio Nicoletti, Mayor of Matera, Vittoria Ferdinandi, Mayor of Perugia, and Umbria’s Vice President Tommaso Bori.
Others who attended included Marva Griffin Wilshire, founder and curator of the Salone Satellite exhibition who inaugurated the show at the Italy Pavilion on Sunday, the Ambassador of Kansai Yasushi Misawa, Hiroshi Ishiguro, producer of the Pavilion ‘Future of Life’ who gave life to the humanoid of Ito Mancio that will narrate the story of Japan’s first ambassador to Italy for a week.
Also present were Yoshiaki Matsumura, Director & CEO of Rose Gallery Representative, Koji Murakami, Deputy Governor of the Tokushima prefecture, and Seiko Hashimoto, President of the Japan Cycling Federation and President of the Japanese Olympic Committee.
Commissioner Vattani described the event as an “exceptional day”, embracing themes ranging from “sport to design, the economy and robotics”.
“And this is the Italy we talk about and it is also a symbol of the relationship we have with Japan”, added the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, “because here we are not only bringing excellent products of extremely high quality but also creating collaborations – we do this every day and we will continue to do it during this last month” of the universal exhibition.
AloJapan.com