Mayor of Milan Giuliano Pisapia, President of Veneranda Fabbrica Duomo di Milano Angelo Caloia and Owner of Eataly Oscar Farinetti joined together in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the exhibition, “Eataly per Duomo.” 

The exhibit is free and will be open to the public until May 2015. 

Italian Art Critic Philippe Daverio shared with i-Italy, “The Duomo of Milan has the highestconcentration of sculptures worldwide because, since the beginning of its construction in the fourteenth century, regularly the sculptures have been changed when they get old… The whole system together makes a history of sculpture over seven centuries.”

Eataly is sponsoring the exhibit to represent the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano and to support the Expo Milano 2015 being held in Milan next year, whose theme is “Feeding the Planet: Energy for Life.”

Oscar Farinetti, owner of Eataly, tells i-italy exactly why Eataly is supporting this event.  “Eataly was created with the purpose of becoming a storytelling place to narrate the prime Italian beauty: food. But Eataly also has the obligation and the responsibility to tell the story of all other amazing Italian attractions: the art, the history, the landscapes,” Farinetti explains. “That’s why we decided to create this room in New York – to bring the Duomo here.”

It is clear that Italian culture is predominantly influenced by Italian food. 

“Food is culture, culture is food. Some people say that culture doesn’t put food on your table, but culture nurtures us,” Giuliano Pisapia, Mayor of Milan, explains at the opening of the exhibit. 

The focus on food in Italian culture is primarily due to geography. Farinetti explains this so beautifully when he says, “We are the only peninsula in the world that is shaped like this: long and narrow, surrounded by a kind sea. Do you know where the answer is? It’s in the winds. The propitious winds of our seas meet the breezes of our mountains and hills to create an unmatched microclimate. We are the world’s champions of biodiversity. Let me give you a couple of numbers as an example. We have 1228 native vine varieties, France has 220; 533 varieties of olives in Italy, 70 in Spain; 140 different cultivar of durum wheat in Italy, 6 in the US. We are the country with the highest biodiversity and this needs to be known. This is what Eataly works for.”

Food connects Eataly to Milan. As Pisapia puts it, “Milano is a ‘water-city,’ an agricultural city. Very few people know that it is the second agricultural city in Italy. So food is a pillar of this city and for me.”

Over six million tickets have already been sold for the Expo Milano 2015. 

The goal of the exhibit, and the work of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano, is to restore the Duomo to its original quality by May 1, 2015. 

The Event Manager for the Expo explains, “We need to attract people because we are building extraordinarily in our city, so the more people coming, the more nice things we can offer to the worldwide population.”

Pisapia looks forward to the success of the exhibit at Eataly and, eventually, the Expo Milano 2015: “Values are the main item in the agenda of my administrative and political commitment for this city. Of course, the more foreign visitors for the Expo and for Milan, the more we will be energized. There will be six months of debate, discussions, international conferences, but, above all, happiness, joy and fun. This is the mixture that can make Milano truly attractive and clearly initiate a dialogue with all of those cities that have the same goals.”

“Eataly per Duomo” is a celebration of Italian culture, but specifically, a celebration of the city of Milan. The beautiful statues spanning seven centuries give only a taste of the majesty that is the Duomo in Milan. It is the hope of Eataly, Giuliano Pisapia and others involved in producing the Expo Milano 2015 that this exhibit will inspire visitors to travel to Milan for the unveiling of the newly restored Duomo di Milano in 2015.