China at center stage in Milan

"This very much depends on good ideas we should implement to organize good events, lectures and conferences on specific areas, not only food but everything related to food," he says, citing food packaging, use of robots for food production, and agricultural machinery as examples.

With the China Pavilion being the second-largest foreign pavilion and hundreds of companies seeking to show and share their innovations with foreign enterprises, China will be in the spotlight during the event.

Milan Expo also offers Chinese travelers other reasons to book a flight to this Mediterranean country - many regard Italy as a must for fine arts, ancient buildings and delicious food.

Bradanini is expecting 20-25 million visitors for the Milan Expo, with 1.5 million being Chinese who either will fly from China or travel from other Shengen countries.

"Eighty or 90 percent of the Chinese who go to Europe will visit Milan as well. The Chinese love Italy because of its art, food, fashion, design and scenery," the ambassador says.

Roughly 1 million out of the 9 million tickets sold have been bought by Chinese people, which is a really good start, according to Bradanini.

Chinese and Italian airlines have announced that they will increase flights to meet the ballooning demand of travel between the two countries.

Air China increased flights to Milan to 14 times per week, with planes taking off from Beijing and Shanghai each day.

Starting on May 1, Alitalia Airlines is expected to launch a new flight linking Milan and Shanghai until the end of the exposition.

Italian embassy staff in Beijing have also been working hard to ensure Chinese visitors have a happy journey from the very beginning.

Individual visitors can get their visa in less than two days, though group visitors might take a few more days because more complicated procedures are required, Bradanini says.

Because Chinese travelers are known for shopping with cash, they can be easy targets for pickpockets and robbers overseas.

To ensure that there will be fewer cases in which a pleasurable journey ends in anger and disappointment, Italy is inviting Chinese police officers to patrol with Italian police in certain areas where the crime rate is high and Chinese visitors are flooding in.

"We heard that in some European countries, sometimes Chinese people are attacked, so we asked Chinese authorities to send policemen to Italy. They can work with the Italian policemen to protect Chinese."

The two countries have been discussing joint patrols for a while and are close to signing an agreement, according to the ambassador.

This memorandum might be signed very soon because it was anticipated to be one of the major topics on the agenda of Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni during his visit to China on April 27-29, according to the ambassador.

If the agreement is inked, Chinese police officers could start working with Italian officers in the coming weeks, Bradanini says.

"This will enhance the capability of law enforcement to prevent this kind of incident from occurring."

Song Mengxing and Bu Han contributed to this story.

suqiang@chinadaily.com.cn