Expo 2015 was a World Expo hosted by Milan, Italy. It opened on May 1 at 10:00 CEST and closed on October 31. Milan hosted an exposition for the second time; the first was the 1906 Milan International. The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) general assembly in Paris decided in favour of Milan on March 31, 2008. On November 23, 2010, the event was announced by the BIE. Expo 2015's theme was "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life".

Themes

Expo 2015's theme was "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life", encompassing technology, innovation, culture, traditions and creativity and how they relate to food and diet. The exposition developed themes introduced in earlier expos (such as water at Expo 2008 in Zaragoza) in light of new global scenarios and emerging issues, focusing on the right to healthy, secure and sufficient food for the world's inhabitants. Futuristic concerns about food security are compounded by forecasts of increasing uncertainty about the quantity of food which will be available globally. The exposition had seven sub-themes:

Site

The Expo 2015 site is about 15 km northwest of Milan, in the municipalities of Rho and Pero, and covers an area of 1.1 km2. It is adjacent to the Fiera Milano fairgrounds, designed by Massimiliano Fuksas, which may be considered the cornerstone of the area's urban redevelopment. It had long been an industrial zone before its conversion to logistical and municipal services and agriculture. The fairgrounds and the Expo site were connected by a pedestrian bridge adjacent to the Rho-Pero high-speed rail station. Originally-planned bicycle paths were never constructed, and several motorways were built (or expanded) to allow access to the site. The area is oblong in shape with an overall length of nearly 3 km, suggesting a boulevard along which the pavilions would be located. The design of pools and waterways in and around the Expo area was an element of primary importance.

Initial plan

The initial plan had the following elements: A 100 ha service area was planned near the main Expo site with hotels, parking facilities, stores, a convention centre, green areas, a business centre available to Expo participants and a 12 ha Expo Village to house staff, volunteers and security and administrative personnel. The following thematic pavilions were also planned:

Concept

Expo 2015's concept was presented on September 8, 2009. It was designed by a committee of four architects: Stefano Boeri, Richard Burdett, Mark Rylander and Jacques Herzog. The main idea was to trace two avenues (a main and a secondary avenue), representing the ancient Roman layout of a cardo and a decumanus. The initial idea of a "classical" site composed of avenues and pavilions was replaced by the idea of a "light" Expo composed of exhibition areas arranged across the main boulevard. The exhibition areas, identical for each country, recreated the typical food cycle of each nation from production to consumption. The centre of the avenue was occupied by a table in front of the country pavilions extending the length of the site, where visitors could sample foods produced in each country's pavilion. The area would be covered by large, tent-like structures to convey the idea of a global marketplace. A second idea was to build large greenhouses on the site to reproduce the earth's principal biomes. These would be thematic pavilions for the cultivation and production of basic foodstuffs used in the individual country pavilions. Each country would have a dedicated greenhouse in its exhibition area. In this version of the site, water remained an important element but was shifted toward the exterior as a large, navigable canal surrounding the site. A large lake was also included in the design. Additional elements included a large, excavated amphitheatre and a hill, one at each end of the boulevard; expo village facilities across the encircling canal from the site, and redevelopment of the post-office building as a centre for sustainable development.

Master plan

The master plan for Expo 2015, coordinated by Stefano Boeri, was delivered to the BIE during its April 30, 2010 registration ceremony in Paris. Changes included:

Participants

Expo participants included 145 countries, three international organizations and several civil society organizations, corporations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Participants were hosted in individual or grouped pavilions.

Countries

Each participating country was hosted in a self-constructed pavilion and included on the Expo website. Some countries, such as Belarus, Belgium, Israel and Germany, created external websites. As part of a reciprocity protocol with Expo 2010 in Shanghai, on December 8, 2008, China was the first country to formalise its participation in Expo 2015. The first country outside the reciprocity protocol to confirm its participation was Switzerland, on February 3, 2011. As in other years, during the Expo visitors could purchase a passport which could be stamped. Two major countries which did not participate were Australia and Canada, who withdrew despite participating in the previous Expo in Shanghai, citing budgetary restrictions. The following countries participated:

Nongovernmental organizations

International organizations

Companies

Agreements

In preparation for Expo 2015, the City of Milan signed coordination agreements with other cities in Italy and Europe focusing on tourism, culture and infrastructure. Agreements were also signed with other countries for the development of projects associated with food and education.

Partners

Official partners

Media partners

Global partners

Premium partners

Other partners

Controversy

Expo 2015's opening on May 1 was met with protests by a black bloc of anti-austerity activists, with police using tear gas. Although Vatican City invested €3 million in its pavilion before Pope Francis' election, he said that it was good for the church to be involved in causes which fight hunger and promote clean energy but too much money was wasted on the Expo by the Vatican.

Food

Several unusual (or unique) food choices were offered during the exposition, some normally not permitted in Italy. At Zimbabwe's pavilion, visitors could try burgers made from crocodile, zebra or python (named "crocoburger", "zebraburger" and "savanaburger" by their creator, consul Georges El Badaoui). The pavilion's food was some of the expo's most innovative and extravagant. At the Japanese pavilion during the expo, European regulations were relaxed and it was possible to taste sashimi from pufferfish (fugu). In the Future Food District were packs of canned insects, common in Southeast Asia but prohibited in the European Union. Italian chef Massimo Bottura and international colleagues created the Refettorio Ambrosiano, a gourmet soup kitchen using waste food from the fair.

Verybello.it

verybello.it was the Italian website for the Expo 2015. The website was launched in January 2015. Its early version has attracted criticism for omitting Sicily from the map of Italy, and for having only the Italian language version present. Website design and name have also been criticized. The website, as accessed in late March 2015, had an English version, and an expanded map including Sicily.

Sport

World Cup Expo, a football tournament of mixed teams composed of workers from individual pavilions (or clusters), was held during the event.

Mascot

The mascot was Foody, a salad-like character, inspired by the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo and is composed of eleven different foods, each of which forms a separate mascot, including Chicca the pomegranate. It was designed by Disney Italia.

Pavilions