Tainan City welcomes another important foreign visitor after the visit of French Senator Alain Richard. Senate Vice-President Gian Marco Centinaio of the Italian Republic and Parliament Senator Elena Murelli led a delegation to Tainan on June 17 and visited city mayor Huang Wei-che. This Italian delegation, headed by the Senate Vice-President, is the highest-level group to visit since Italy’s new government took office. The Italian visitors spend most of their time in Taipei and visited many Central Government agencies. Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che is the only local official they called upon. The mayor, along with Deputy Mayor Chao Ching-hui, Department of Information and International Relations Director-General Su En-en, and Tainan Art Museum Director Lin Chiu-fan, welcomed the European guests at Tainan Art Museum, an important landmark in Tainan. The two parties discussed city-to-city exchanges between Taiwan and Italy as well as other issues.
Mayor Huang Wei-che expressed that Italy is a country well-known for its arts and culture, therefore he chose to welcome the guests at the Tainan Art Museum. As Tainan will hold a series of Tainan 400 events next year (2024), the mayor expressed that the participation of Italian culture and arts will certainly enrich the occasion and overall experience.
Since this is the delegation’s first visit to Tainan, Huang gave a brief introduction on the city and explained that Tainan is an old cultural capital as well as a city of deities. The city is rich in history and culture, and very well-known for its delicacies, snacks, and agricultural products worldwide. He hopes that with the assistance of Senate Vice-President Centinaio, who once served as the Italian Minister of Agriculture and Tourism, Tainan and Italy can see more intercity collaborations as well as agricultural tourism interactions. Senate Vice-President Centinaio responded that he will share his impressions of Tainan with the Italian public after he returns home and hopefully, more Italians will choose to visit Tainan and other Taiwanese cities.
Centinaio mentioned that many people recommended Tainan to him before this trip, and talked about Tainan’s thriving cultural tourism, many delicacies, and pleasant weather. This made him very curious about Tainan before coming here and he is very excited to visit this beautiful city today. Centinaio said that he had worked as a deputy city mayor before and was responsible for cultural tourism affairs, therefore he understands the challenges and importance of promoting culture and tourism at a local government level. Centinaio also pointed out that the delegation’s meetings with Taiwan’s Central Government agencies this time included interactions related to historical relics and agriculture, and he looks forward to future exchanges between the two sides.
A heavyweight politician in the Italian political circle, Senate Vice-President Gian Marco Centinaio is very friendly to Taiwan. He and Italian Parliament Senator Elena Murelli as well as other European senators have openly supported Taiwan’s participation in the WHO and World Health Assembly. In addition to serving as a senator and senate vice-president, Centinaio also worked as Italy’s Minister of Agriculture and Tourism in 2018. This is Centinaio’s third visit to Taiwan but is his first visit to Tainan. In addition to visiting Mayor Huang Wei-che, he also stopped by Tainan Art Museum and Chimei Museum.