Gala concert kicks off 1-yr countdown to Milan Expo

Thailand unveils farmer's hat-shaped pavilion

(ANSA) - Milan, May 2 - While Milan kicked off the one-year countdown to Expo 2015 this week with an evening musical entertainment extravaganza, Thailand unveiled its pavilion for the food-themed World's Fair in Bangkok.

The theme of Milan Expo 2015, which runs May 1-October 31 next year, is "Feeding the Planet: Energy for Life". The fair will put global culinary culture on show and tackle issues like food security, nutrition, hunger, as well as promote environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable global food-production practices. A line-up of Italian stars took the stage Wednesday night for a concert in Piazza Gae Aulenti, Milan's newest city square at the base of the spiralling Unicredit tower, Italy's tallest building. Veteran Italian television presenter and bestselling cookbook author Antonella Clerici hosted celebrity chefs Davide Oldani and Don Gino Rigoldi, comedian-actor Enrico Bertolino, and Italian Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina, among others.

Milan Mayor Giuliano Pisapia, Lombardy Governor Roberto Maroni and ex-mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, whose administration won the opportunity to host the Expo in November 2010, also took part. The collection of politicians hailing from opposing political parties was meaningful, Maroni said. "All the institutions are committed to Expo 2015. It is not often that institutions led by proponents of different parties unite to work (together), and here it is happening," said Maroni.

Maroni is a leader of the anti-immigration, regionalist Northern League party, while Pisapia is a member of the left and Moratti a former stalwart of centre-right Forza Italia party, founded by ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi. Singer-songwriter Andrea Bocelli sang a concert to the accompaniment of the RAI Orchestra, the official musical ensemble of Italy's public broadcaster. Guest conductor Andrea Morricone - son of the legendary Italian soundtrack composer Ennio Morricone - led the world debut of Expo 2015's first anthem, written by Bocelli and the elder Morricone. "One year from the event, the accent needs to be put on the nutrition theme and talk begun of social aspects tied to that," said Milan Expo Commissioner Giuseppe Sala, who also billed Expo as an epicurean attraction. "Expo will be the biggest restaurant in the world, and I think it is beautiful to say so," Sala added. The one-year countdown was also celebrated Wednesday with the unveiling of a limited edition, platinum Expo coin, and the presentation of the first month's worth of events planned to animate the streets of Milan during the fair. Meanwhile, plans for Thailand's Expo pavilion on Thursday were shown in Bangkok.

The 2,500 sq m construction on a 3,000 sq m site will be modeled after a traditional, bell-shaped farmer's hat called a "ngob", still widely in use. The woven-straw hat is made in such a way that air circulates through it, ventilating the farmers' head as they work under the sun. Thailand's pavilion was designed to exploit the same principle - for a structure active during Milan's warmest months - to have an extremely low environmental impact. The Thai pavilion will also honour the sacred with a divine symbol of water, the serpent-like Naga, and a section of a stupa, a domed Buddhist structure containing relics used for meditation. The pavilion aims to display the importance of Thai agriculture, the global stature of Thai cuisine, Thailand's food-packaging innovations, and a sustainable future for Thai farming that the country's head of state, King Bhumibol Adulyadej - known as Rama IX - strongly desires.