“With two million Italian Americans, 30% growth in the number of Italians residing here in the past four years, Italian exports of 3.5 billion euros, and 350,000 Italian visitors in 2022, Florida plays an increasingly important role in our relationship with the United States,” commented the Ambassador of Italy to the United States, Mariangela Zappia, today and tomorrow on a mission to Miami.
The strengthening of Italy’s presence in the Sunshine State on the economic, cultural, and scientific level is the focus of the meeting that the Ambassador, together with Consul General Francesco Musillo, will have with the representatives of Sistema Italia in Florida, in which the Hon. Christian Di Sanzo and the Hon. Andrea Di Giuseppe are also expected to (remotely) participate. The opportunities Florida and Miami offer and the city’s role as a hub for the country’s Southeast, Latin America, and the Caribbean will also be at the center of a meeting of the Ambassador with the Italy Miami Think Tank. The Ambassador will also meet entrepreneurs, scientists, researchers, and heads of Italian language programs at the Istituto Marangoni of Miami. In the State of Florida, which has 12,500 students of Italian, more than 20 new programs have been launched to teach the Italian language in schools and universities in the past three years.
Today, the Ambassador will open the exhibition “Fashion is Female. Lights on Italian Design as Cultural Legacy,” main event for Italian Design Day 2023 in the US. On the premises of the new Italian Cultural Institute in Miami, which will be officially opened in May, garments of designers who have made Italian fashion great throughout the world will be on display: Elsa Schiaparelli, the Fontana sisters, Fernanda Gattinoni, Mila Schon, Krizia, Lella Curiel, Laura Biagiotti, and Miuccia Prada. In the exhibition, organized by the Consulate General, together with the Salone del Mobile (Milan Furniture Fair), Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (National Chamber of Italian Fashion), and the on-site offices of the Istituto Marangoni and ICE (Italian Trade Agency), each garment will be combined with sources of light of famous Italian brands, such as Flos, Foscarini, Artemide, Kartell, and Baleri Italia.
During the mission, a visit to the site of MSC’s new passenger terminal, under construction by the Fincantieri group, is also planned. The goal of the project, supported by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Intesa Sanpaolo and done with sustainable materials, is to make the MSC terminal the largest cruise hub in North America, handling over 36,000 passengers per day. Moreover, the Ambassador will meet the heads of leading Italian boating companies in Florida, first US state by value of sales in the sector.
