Vespucci in Tokyo, Villaggio Italia inaugurated

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 26 - The Tokyo stage of the world tour of the Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian Navy's historic sailing and training ship and an ambassador of Made in Italy in the world, for the first time in Japan for over 90 years, was officially opened Monday.
    The inaugural ceremony of the Villaggio Italy in Tokyo, which also kicked off the visits on board the storied ship, saw an enthusiastic sponsor of the project, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, address those present.
    "We had the most beautiful ship in the world, we knew that it would reach the ports of important nations where Italy is loved," the minister told ANSA, "and it seemed intelligent to us to link a product of excellence with all the other excellence that Italy can offer.
    "And in the end it was an intuition that is proving successful." As well as Minister Crosetto, who in the morning visited the Vespucci with his Japanese counterpart Monoru Kihara, the inauguration was also addressed by Italian Ambassador to Japan Gianluigi Benedetti; by the managing director of Difesa Servizi, Luca Andreoli, the head of the defence ministry's in-house company that produces and supports all the phases of the initiative; and by Frigate Captain Giuseppe Lai, the ship's commander.
    "The Villaggio Italia is recounted in very many ways and all these definitions actually tell us what it sets out to represent," said Andreoli in front of a packed crowd, in a hot and sunny Tokyo.
    "Today is the second edition after Los Angeles, in this special location.
    "A village set up in this extraordinary building, a cruise terminal, which is a reformulation of a modality of realisation, which is a little the characteristic of us Italians to succeed in adapting ourselves to the places where we go".
    There will in fact be over 40 events organised at the 'Villaggio Italia', with an account of the excellence of our country: from the Venice Biennale to La Scala in Milan, the Academy of maestro Riccardo Muti, to the Italian institute of Design.
    Also present at the ceremony were Defence Undersecretary Matteo Perego di Cremnago, Navy Rear Admiral and Military Chief of Staff Enrico Credendino, the Commissioner General for Italy at Expo Osaka 2025, Mario Andrea Vattani, Piedmont Governor Alberto Cirio, Matteo Zoppas, the president of Italian Trade Agency ICE, and Federico Bricolo, the president of the Veronafiere complex that hosts the Vinitaly wine fair in Verona each April.
    "I think that it behooves us to recount Italy as much as we can because we have a lot to tell," stressed the defence minister.
    "There are other nations that tell their own story through TV series or films. We have missed the opportunity to recount ourselves for many decades. The last story about Italy was told by fashion and design, but it's been years since we told our own story and so we are now allowing people to rediscover an Italy that many nations no longer know." (ANSA).