"Lantern Festival", Pietro Vultaggio also awarded
The official opening event “Festival of Lanterns” was held yesterday, Thursday, August 1, at 7 p.m. at FICO Eataly World (in Via Paolo Canali, 8 in Bologna), in the presence of Italian and Chinese institutions, in collaboration with Open Gate China, which has been working for years to promote relations between Italy and China.
The Lantern Festival, in fact, is the largest event on Chinese culture ever held and, after seducing the French, for the first time it has arrived in Italy, transforming the capital of Emilia into the capital of an unprecedented cultural encounter between the two nations.
At the event – as can be seen from the press release – the main Chinese Associations from all over Italy and, from China, the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) took part.
The Cultural Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Rome Xu Rong, Vice Consul General Wang Huijuan and Guan Haibo of the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Milan also participated.
The Chinese Embassy in Rome was attended by the Chinese Cultural Counselor.
Mayor Virginio Merola and Deputy Mayor Marilena Pillati of the Municipality of Bologna, Bologna Prefect Patrizia Impresa, Confcommercio Ascom Bologna Director Giancarlo Tonelli, Unindustria Bologna Director General Tiziana Ferrari, Legacoop Bologna President Rita Ghedini, along with Open Gate China President Marco Toson and FICO Eataly World CEO Tiziana Primori were present to welcome them.
The event was attended by the Chinese Embassy in Rome Xavier Rong, Chinese Embassy in Rome Xavier Rong, Chinese Deputy Consul General Wang Huijuju and Chinese Deputy Consul General Guin Haibo.
For the event, in addition to the chefs, artisans arrived directly from the East, who built more than 80 sculptures and light installations, true monumental works capable of reaching even twenty meters in height.
An event also of a political and economic nature, as pointed out – by Tax Legal Solutions – Ilenia Sala Certified Public Accountant: “The Memorandum of Understanding between Italy and China will bring Italy, first among the G7 countries, inside the Belt and Road Initiative (or New Silk Roads). It is the infrastructure-trade project connecting China and Eurasia, launched in 2013 by Chinese Premier Xi Jinping himself, in which Italy must participate for economic reasons, and to rebalance the trade balance. Italy is not at the top of European countries receiving Chinese investment. The United Kingdom and Germany lead this ranking; Italy is third. Our exports to China are worth 13.169 billion euros, while imports are worth three times as much: more than 30billion (2018 data). The trend also reinforces this: in 2018, exports fell by 2.4 percent, while imports grew by 8.2 percent. Italy therefore has every interest, in my opinion, in creating synergies with China in order to attract investment.”
Also among the awardees was Pietro Vultaggio, entrepreneur, owner of a digital communication agency and owner of the MangiareSanoEBene® brand and the website www.CalcioCinese.IT, who remarked on the importance of the event in terms of “business development on the themes of good food and soccer, which constitute two important tracks connecting Italy with China, strengthening the cohesion of the two countries, at the economic, social, cultural and tourism levels.”
