On 17th March 1861, after the struggles marking the period of the Risorgimento and the success of Garibaldi’s 1000 men, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed with Torino as its first capital.
In 1911 Italy commemorated its first 50 years with an international Industrial Exhibition in Turin. The celebration of the glories of a city that had developed from an institutional capital into a manufacturing capital, and a nation that had become equal to all other European nations. An extraordinary event at that time that drew crowds of more than 7 million visitors.
To celebrate the Centenary in 1961 Turin hosted a showcase for Italy and its regional traditions, but especially for its achievements in science and technology, transport and cinema, which was admired by 6 million people.
Now Italy is planning to celebrate its 150th anniversary as a united nation. Turin and Piedmont are preparing a grand international happening, as there was in 1911 and in 1961: an opportunity to look back at past glories, but also to consider the present and take a look at the future of Italy.

Two years before the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification, in the European capital an Italian season is starting.
Turin, the first national capital, will present in Brussels – at BOZAR Center of Fine Arts and at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura – a taste of Italian excellences from the past and the present: the “Turin Italian Spring Festival”.
Waiting for 2011, when the city will host a great calendar of events showing the best of Italy to the world.
The festival includes many appointments, from February to April, dedicated to “best of Italy”: art, music, theatre, food, literature. An education in taste, which will feature the masterpieces of the Flemish Savoy collection but also the provocative art installation by Maurizio Cattelan, a gastronomic workshop with the Slow Food president Carlo Petrini, a lecture by Alessandro Baricco, a evening with the horror filmmaker Dario Argento and much more.

Look at BOZAR website
All about the expo “From Van Dyck to Bellotto. Splendor at the Court of Savoy”
The “Turin Italian Spring Festival” list of activities
The Istituto Italiano di Cultura website

Three years prior to this appointment, the Comitato Italia 150 (the committee that will organize the events in Piedmont ) will be in partnership with the Tourist Trade Fair in Rimini – Travel Trade Italia and TTG Incontri (24-26 October) – and will participate in several meetings to discuss with the international and national tour operators about ideas on how to design tourist theme packages and holiday offers in Italy. Underlying the discussion, there is the firm belief that the 2011 occasion, along with other international events where Italy will play a leading role in the next years, can be a successful tool to develop and promote the Italian tourist system.

In the TTI days the Comitato Italia 150 will promote several occasions for meeting with the operators. Within the conference “Italy is back”, focused on strategies for relaunching the “product Italy”, a specific workshop about Piedmont case has been planned. It will address the vision underlying 2011 project: just as all the initiatives planned will aim to reach the greatest interaction and involvement of the public, so will the tourist offer. It is not going to be about the classic cultural tourism, characterized by passive and standardized enjoyment, but about real “experiences” as much active and customized as possible.

Besides, the national plan of works and the related cultural and tourism promotion strategies will be presented at TTI by the Mission of the Council of Ministers Presidency in charge of coordinating the Anniversary in 2011.

Travel Trade Italia
TTG Incontri

For the past 20 years, the city of Turin and the surrounding region of Piedmont have been doing an impressive job of bringing about an architectural, cultural and social transformation, but now they are concentrating all their efforts on reaching their full potential ready for 2011.
Many restorations and works on infrastructures will be completed by 2011 on royal palaces, historical buildings, parks and green areas. Those places will be the venues of the event and will host expos, shows, conferences and performances.

Turin for Italy 150th anniversary
Piedmont for Italy 150th anniversary

Experience Italy will be part of a National program of celebrations for Italy’s 150th  anniversary that will be coordinated by “The Mission Structure”  (Struttura di Missione per le celebrazione dei 150 anni dell’Unità Nazionale), a Government body created in April 2007.
The Structure works in the Tourism Development Department of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and has a double commitment: first, it plans and manages public works concerting artistic, scientific and cultural sites in Italy to be completed by 2011. Then, it selects and manages the events that will build up the National program for the celebrations of 2011. Italia 150 Committee has been cooperating with this body from the very beginning up to obtain, for Turin and Piedmont, infrastructures,  the 30% of the public funds and a national leading role in the events planning.
On the 23rd November 2007 the Government created another supervising National body: the Guarantors Committee (Comitato dei garanti). The Guarantors task is to address and supervise all National activities for the 150th  anniversary. The chairman is the former President of Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.  Among the members some important Italian personalities: Giovanni Allevi, Ludina Barzini, Vittorio Bo, Roberto Bolle, Marta Boneschi, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, Giovanni Conso, Valeria Della Valle, Llouis Godart, Ugo Gregoretti, Gianni Letta, Claudio Magris, Dacia Maraini, Francesco Margiotta Broglio, Gianfelice Rocca, Roberto Saviano and Gustavo Zagrebelsky.

The year 2011 will not only be dedicated to Italian citizens and those who have decided to make their home in Italy, but also to those scattered throughout the world who have anything to do with Italy: long-gone and recent emigrants, their sons and daughters and their descendants, foreigners who share our values, speak our language, study our culture and purchase our products.
To ensure that all these people share a common feeling for Italy requires a lengthy preparation, and the coming months will see a number of initiatives being proposed throughout the region, Italy and abroad so as to involve as many people as possible and build up participation in the festivities.

Experience Italy is the grand event that will be held in Turin from March 17th until November 20th 2011. Expos, shows, conferences and performance will evoke the past, invite debates on the present and encourage experiments for the future of Italy. Offering people new opportunities to experience to the full the best our country has to give, is today the best way to bring about the formation of a new Italian identity.
An experience of landscapes, people and projects. An experience of the past, the present and the future. An experience of democracy and culture. An experience of science and research. An experience of history and memory. An experience of a city, a region, a nation; an experience of globalization. An experience of everyday life, the Made in Italy and the Italian Style. An experience of knowledge and awareness. An experience of otherness and identity. An experience of passion and innovation.
An Experience of Italy.

The job of this committee is to organize the events celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Unity of Italy in Piedmont. It was founded in Turin on 7th May 2007 and includes the local authorities and the main economic and cultural bodies: Piedmont Region, Province of Turin, City of Turin, the savings bank foundations Compagnia di San Paolo and Fondazione CRT, Turin chamber of commerce, the union of Piedmont chambers of commerce, Turin university and polytechnic, East Piedmont university and Pollenzo gastronomic sciences university.
The chairmanship will be held, on a rotation basis year by year, by the President of the Piedmont Region, the Mayor of the City of Turin, and the President of the Province of Turin. First Mercedes Bresso, the President of the Region, chairs the Committee until December 2007. President of the Committee is now the Major of the City of Turin Sergio Chiamparino.