Italy’s economic heart with an incomparable landscape and world-ranking culture
| Lombardy will host the 2005 World Ski Championships |
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ombardy
offers visitors Milan, the lake district, Alpine skiing and centuries
of history, as well as exceptional regional Italian cuisine and hospitality.
Beyond Milan, there are also other great towns, cities and small villages
with tourist attractions and cultural treasures waiting to be discovered.
Given the abundance of natural riches and cultural heritage on offer,
it is hard to see why this part of Italy is not as well regarded as
Tuscany, for example.
This may be Italy’s economic beating
heart, but it is also one of the most strikingly beautiful parts of
the country, with a diverse spread of assets and attractions that make
it the envy of most other places in the world. British visitors have
discovered the delights of Lombardy ahead of others. Millions flock
to Lake Como and Lake Garda every year, or are drawn to the glitzy shopping
of fashionable Milan. It is cheap and easy to fly to Milan thanks to
low cost airlines like Ryanair and British Midland’s bmibaby.
“Lombardy offers much more than just business and commerce,”
says Massimo Zanello, Regional Tourism Councillor. “It is a great
place for any demanding tourist. Our territory is vast and varied, from
the rich and fertile valleys crossed by rivers, to the lake district
and the Alps crowning the flatlands.”
Lombardy has made tourism development a
top priority. This means moving away from a Milan-centred approach and
encouraging people to explore the region. There is a new emphasis on
promoting the region’s undiscovered cultural heritage. “Milan
is not just Italy’s foremost business place – it is one of
the great cities of arts as well,” says Mr Zanello. “Leonardo
da Vinci created and left in Milan some of his most important works,
not only the world-famous ‘Last Supper’. Milan’s museums
are a treasure to be discovered.”
There is the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, for
example, a huge library founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo and one
of the first to be opened for public reading in 1609, and its associated
art gallery. The vast collection of works ranks it as one of the most
important libraries and galleries in Italy and the world. Some of the
masterpieces exhibited include works by Leonardo, Caravaggio and Raphael.
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According
to Ettore Albertoni, Regional
Councillor for Cultures, Identities and Autonomies, one of the primary
attractions of Lombardy is its enormous cultural depth and diversity.
His task is to make the most out of Lombardy’s heritage, building
libraries, sponsoring museums and supporting restoration work. According
to Mr. Albertoni the important feature of Lombardy’s cultural identity
is its pluralism. “Lombardy is not only Milan,” he says, “Lombardy
is a network of 11 provinces and over one thousand towns where Milan
is a nodal point but not the absolute capital. Lombardy’s history
is an asset that produces an amazing variety of social realities and
economic factors bound by common values and a strong community spirit.”
Mr. Albertoni points out that cultural
pluralism means having 2,200 libraries in the region, all interactive
and wired. “Our structure is not pyramidal and powers are distributed
equally to the provinces and towns alike,” he says.
The regional administration is looking to boost tourism infrastructure,
including hotels, transport and communications links, and other facilities,
to assist the growth of the sector. It is also looking to take advantage
of the high number of business visitors in the Milan area, including
the promotion of the conference venue, to persuade people to venture
further afield.
Maurizio Gandolfi, Chief Executive of Club
Lombardia, the 2005 World Ski Championships organising committee, believes
the presence of major sporting and cultural events will have a positive
impact on the region, not only in attracting more visitors, but also
in developing the necessary support infrastructure. “We think that
this is going to be an important investment for the future,” he
says.
Mr Gandolfi believes that there will be a different look to Lombardy
within the next decade. There are big ambitions. The region is hoping
to attract the 2016 Olympic Games, for example. He says that Lombardy
will always be searching for new challenges. “We would like to
make people understand that Lombardy, in addition to industry, represents
fashion, culture, entertainment, lakes, cities of art and mountains.”
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