The Italian region of Piedmont has kicked off a new tourism and investment campaign in Shanghai. Piedmont, found in Northwestern Italy and meaning ‘at the foot of the mountain’, is styling itself as a land of wine and wellness. It is famous for hosting the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics and is the home of Italian football club Juventus and carmaker FIAT. The alpine region currently has 50,000 hectares under vine and famous for its Barolo and Barbaresco wines.

A presentation yesterday at the Italian Pavilion at the Expo included background on Italian and Chinese trade. Currently Italy ranks a distant 30th in imports to China, but more importantly 3rd in wine, 2nd in olive oil and 1st in pasta and chocolate. The program also included talks from vineyards hoping to gain a foothold in the Chinese market through the sizeable amount of wine importers in attendance and a discussion about the tourism highlights the region has to offer.

Web: www.regione.piemonte.it