Moratti: "We support Kenya's economic development project"

In view of the Expo, the cooperation agreements are taking shape

Milano, 30 set. (Apcom) - In the last few years the economic relations between Kenya and Lombardy have been intensifying and thanks to the 2015 Universal Exhibition they will become even more frequent. Milano's mayor Letizia Moratti explained it during a convention on this theme. "The cooperation agreements between the city of Milano and Kenya in view of the Expo are going to support a project of social and economic development named 'Vision 30', which was launched by Nairobi's government in order to help the country reach a 10% yearly economic growth."

The mayor underlined that "the 10 million Euro notification promoted by our city council for the co-financing of immigrants' remittances in favour of entrepreneurial initiatives, will feed a plan aimed at the prevention of Aids among children." Besides, she added, "we decided to share in the rehabilitation of the youth living in the slums," while in the agricultural sector "the aids are intended for the supply of equipment and fertilizers and for the know-how exchange in the cattle-breeding field."

The practicability of the plans related with the Universal Exhibition is now clearer. "We are ready to collaborate on all the projects that Kenya considers as useful, like the microcredit and the Telematic Stock Exchange for agrifood," claimed Moratti. "The latter is a very good way to encourage the spreading of niche products, which otherwise would have difficulty entering the market."

"In 2007 the Milanese exports towards Kenya reached 21.3 million euros and the imports from Kenya 3.1 million euros," said the mayor. "These figures show the mutual commitment in strengthening our relations. Moreover, last year Italy was the third tourist market for Kenya. So we decided to take part in the initiatives for its re-launch."

Milano's city council has also assigned some scholarships for course and university masters to Kenyan students and would-be stylists. The 'Workshop project', which is set up by the fashion house Romeo Gigli, gives the chance to six talented designers to work in Milano: they will create their own clothing collection and they will present it in January 2009 together with the 'Romeo Gigli Lab' fall and winter men's collection.

Milano's Central train Station will host the Shoah Memorial

It will include a museum, an archive and a library

Milano, 29 set. (Apcom) - A 7,000-square metre surface within Milano's Central Station will be turned into the Shoah Memorial-Track 21. It is exactly from this point that 605 Jews, among other people, were deported to the concentration and extermination camps of northeast Europe on January 30th 1944.

The project signed by architects Eugenio Gentili Tedeschi and Guido Morpurgo provides a system of integrated spaces: the Memorial itself will take up the area of the underground railway track, while on the ground floor and in the basement, near Ferrante Aporti street, there will be the 'Memorial laboratory'. The latter will include an archive-library, an auditorium, a dedicated library and a bookshop. The names of the 605 deported people will be written on the 'Names' Wall.'

"It won't be a museum, but a memorial," underlined Liliana Segre, who survived a travel that was bound for Auschwitz-Birkenau camps. "If we, elderly people, take stock of the situation, we just see one word: indifference. An attitude that marked the racial persecution and its cold violence. There is the indifference of many people who, in most cases, turned their head the other way."

The plan sprang from these remarks a year ago, on the initiative of several public and private institutions and companies (like Milano's Jewish Community and the city council). The aim is to testify the Holocaust's atrocities and, at the same time, create opportunities of dialogue and debate and educate young people to overcome any social, cultural and linguistic barriers.

A 'Craft City' to help the Haitian children build a better future

It will include 3 factories, laboratories and a vocational school

Milano, 1 ott. (Apcom) - A 'Craft City' including three small factories, some laboratories, a vocational school and a football pitch: it will be built on a 25,800-square metre area in the Haitian town of Tabarre, near Port au Prince, to help the local population, in particular children and youth, to find prompt assistance, employment opportunities and, in general, a brighter future. The entrepreneurial project, named 'Francisville', was conceived by the Foundation 'Francesca Rava' and it is supported by Milano's city council.

The new complex will manufacture those essential goods and services that today are either inexistent or too expensive and give them to the paediatric hospital which is rising nearby, the orphanage 'Nuevos Pequenos Hermanos' and the poorest families. The products will also be sold at fair prices in local markets, in order to foster plans of professional training and the labour demand and offer.

The soap factory will employ 20 workers, as many as the bread and pizza factory. The latter will supply food for 2,000 people every day. An other factory will deal with sandals and shoes, while the machine shop will repair the hospital's vehicles. Over 500 children and teenagers will have the chance to attend the vocational school, aimed at training doctors, nurses, electricians, mechanics, tailors, bakers and cooks.

"We will work at a distance as well by organizing online training courses intended for the young students of the Craft City," claimed Andrea Mascaretti, the municipal councillor for Work and Employment Policies. "Some Haitian youth will also be able to take part in our project 'One Dream One City': they will either attend university in Milano or serve an internship with a company here." "I visited Haiti during one of my missions abroad to promote Milano's candidacy for the Universal Exhibition," added Mariolina Moioli, the municipal councillor for Family, School and Social Policies. "Together with the Country's delegates, we thought of several plans of international cooperation."

Salvatore Ferragamo: a timeless legend on display

A homage to the man who changed shoes' history

Milano, 29 set. (Apcom) - Salvatore Ferragamo made his first pair of shoes at the age of nine, while living in the small town of Bonito, near Avellino. In his early twenties, a few years after moving to the United States, he already had the reputation of the 'Shoemaker to the Stars'. Back to Italy, in 1928 he founded a fashion house bearing his own name, which is still thriving thanks to its ability to combine tradition and innovation. The Triennale Design Museum hosts the exhibition 'Evolving Legend 1928-2008', which pays homage to the company's 80th anniversary and its founder's scientific creativity.

A perfectionist who liked experimenting with new materials, in order to understand how to produce shoes that were both beautiful and comfortable. He even studied anatomy at the University of Southern California. Since the beginning, the exploitation of new and unconventional materials was one of his strong points, together with its patented inventions, like the wedged-heel shoes or the stiletto heels. Hollywood stars have never stopped loving his creations: Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Rita Hayworth, Sofia Loren, they all used to turn to him when looking for a special pair of shoes, both on and off the set.

The exhibition segments in 12 areas, which help the visitors retrace the main stages of the company's history through the key principles the brand has never abandoned, also after the death of Salvatore Ferragamo in 1960: for example, the founder's myth and his relation with cinema and art, the products' craftmade feature and the extraordinary international growth. The event is an evolution of the retrospective on Ferragamo's history that was inaugurated in Florence in 1985 and then was housed by some famous institutions all over the world, from London's Victoria and Albert Museum to Mexico City's Museo des Bellas Artes.