Feature: Expo Milano Italian Pavilion showcases power of beauty

What would the world be like without Italy? The answer to this question posed by the Italian Pavilion to international visitors of Expo Milano 2015 is a magnificence that the world could never give up.

"We have wanted to interpret the Expo theme 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life' by presenting here the great contributions that Italy can offer to the world," Marco Balich, Creative Director of the Italian Pavilion, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The main exhibition at the Italian Pavilion tells the story of the Italian "powers," namely the power of expertise, the power of beauty and the power of future, Balich elaborated.

"Italians grow up with beauty in their eyes, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples ... Our genius leads us to build wonderful cars, furniture, clothes," he said.

But Italians also have the fundamental duty to protect all of this magnificence from a "destructive growth without rules" and project it into the future, he stressed.

Visitors start their journey through the Mediterranean country from listening the stories of people from 21 regions of Italy who present their professional and artistic skills as well as how they found success by thinking in business terms.

The visit continues into rooms animated by 21 landscapes and the same number of architectural masterpieces mirroring in kaleidoscopic designs which convey the impression of floating in infinite beauty.

The power of the future is then narrated by the 21 stories of craftspeople who have used their ingenuity in the most challenging circumstances. Cultivating vineyards on arid hillsides or planting basil in the bottom of the sea are just an example.

The exhibition is also home of a nursery of 21 plants, each of which represents a region, while a camera system allows Italy's famous fruit and vegetable markets in Venice, Rome and Palermo to communicate with the Expo site.

From a reproduction of Campidoglio Square in Rome, where Michelangelo created the mosaic of Renaissance harmony, rises the Tree of Life, a steel and wood structure with a 37-meters height which stands in the center of a lake outside the Italian Pavilion and is the theater of interactive performances from day to night.

The Tree of Life, which as Balich explained to Xinhua draws the nutrition for the future from its deep roots, has become a symbol of the Italian world exposition in the same way as the Milan Charter, a document to involve countries in pursuing the universal right to food and considered to be the legacy of Expo Milano 2015, that all visitors are invited to sign inside the Italian Pavilion.

"I would love that all the young people who visit the Italian Pavilion feel proud and become aware of the unique treasures that Italy has offered and can continue to offer in the future to all nations of the world," Balich said.

The Italian Pavilion is located in the very heart of the Expo site at the center of Italy's exhibition space which stretches through around 14,000 square meters consisting of various buildings, and has been planned to remain post-event as a center for technological innovation. Endit