More than seven million people have visited Milan's Expo 2015 world fair since it opened its doors at the start of May, including many visitors from abroad.
Among the most visited areas of the food-themed Expo is a pavilion dedicated to "Made in Italy" culinary products - Cibus è Italia - Federalimentare.
The pavilion is organised by Fiere di Parma trade fair company and Italian food-producers federation Federalimentare, who together run the bi-annual Cibus food trade fair in Parma.
"Based on an internal survey it emerged that our pavilion is among those most visited by foreigners because it is the only one at Expo that showcases the entire variety of Italian production… from salami to cheeses, from oil to pasta, from desserts to coffee," said the directors of Fiere di Parma.
"Here the stories, production techniques and recipes of Italian food are explained," they said.
Visitors have particularly appreciated the tasting corners in the pavilion, where they can try Italian products including cheese such as Grana Padano and Pecorino, fruit juices and other snacks.
Fiere di Parma's "Cibus è Italia" pavilion is made up of three floors. On the top floor there is a lounge, restaurant, and meeting room where they hold conferences, workshops and meetings between buyers and production companies.
So far, 850 foreign buyers have taken part in business-to-business meetings, 300 of which were arranged by a special programme of Fiere di Parma and the Italian Trade Agency. Of those 300, 120 buyers have visited 40 food production sites in Italy.
The buyers come from countries including Austria, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Peru, Switzerland and the United States.
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