Milan, March 2 - The Milan Expo team is fine tuning the experience visitors will have at the world's fair starting in May, Commissioner Giuseppe Sala told an ANSA forum here Monday, adding that he would be seeking a more "enjoyable" job after the six-month event ends in October. "Infrastructure work is ongoing," Sala told the ANSA forum, which was coordinated by Editor-in-Chief Luigi Contu. "Our focus is on the visitor's experience, which means how people move through the Expo site and what they see," the commissioner explained.

"We will start setting up turnstiles at the four entrances next weekend," Sala said.

"We're working on the final touches and the flow of people," he said of the turnstiles that will regulate the entry of the estimate 20 million visitors to Expo.

Sala added that "droves of chefs" are coming to Expo.

"I've never seen so many new restaurants as I have in this period.

"There is a unique ferment in Milan.

"And we are 'selling' Milan in all its facets," he said.

"There is an opening of restaurants in Milan that I never saw in the last 50 years.

"When we sell Expo we sell Milan itself a lot and the things people ask us for are the Duomo (cathedral), the Castle, the Last Supper, and then there is all the glamour that happens around Milan. "Flocks of young chefs are arriving and my personal feeling is that we need to add food to fashion and design in the mix of Milanese glam".

Sala said that around 2,000 video cameras will be employed as part of a massive security operation for this year's World Fair. He added that 8.5 tickets have already been sold for the six-month event, which kicks off in May under the theme Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.

Sala said that the Expo site would be protected by 3.15-metre metal fencing and by 600 soldiers, who will be employed at night, above all.

"Obviously we have prepared a series of other additional checks," Sala told the forum.

"We are working on it. We'll be ready. For example, there'll be X-ray checks for all the trucks that enter (the site)". Sala said that the event had been given a big boost by an article in the New York Times, which ranked visiting Expo as one of the top trips to do this year. "Up to now, we've sold 8.5 million tickets with two months to go to the opening," Sala said.

"We're optimistic. We've sold one million tickets in the United States, 300,000 in Argentina and we'be had a great response from the Far East, especially China".

A copy of Milan cathedral's iconic Madonnina (Little Madonna) statue will be on display at Expo, Sala told the ANSA forum Monday.

Sala said he hoped to be able to announce the placement of the symbol of Milan later this week.

To see the Madonnina, visitors will have to follow "a path on a slightly upward slope," he said.

The famed maintenance and restoration unit Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo is currently working on the copy.

Sala added he would look for an "enjoyable" job after the six-month event is over.

 This is an inspiring experience, for a manager it's very beautiful work, entirely dedicated to managing complexity.

"Afterwards I'll look for a job I enjoy, something fun," he said.

The ANSA forum in Milan was an opportunity to take stock of ongoing construction at the site of the six-month world's fair - which opens May 1 - and to discuss the aftermath of the event.

Items, features, photos and video footage were broadcast on the ANSA newswire and on the Ansa.it website. ANSA has since Sunday been broadcasting news, features, photos and video footage dedicated to Expo, and publishing them on http://www.ansa.it/canale_expo2015/.

ITALIAN PAVILION 'HEART' OF EVENT.

The Italian Pavilion at Expo 2015 promises to be the crossroads for the entire World Fair, given its central location at the heart of an urban design taken from ancient Rome and known as the "cardo", where a simple cross delineates the form of the town.

The cardo was the name given to the street running from north to south in ancient Roman cities and military camps, and is replicated in the Italian Pavilion's main street, "Cardo," a 325-square-metre lane flanked by buildings and small squares designed to evoke the feel of a traditional Italian village, while also bringing in modern innovation.

Visitors strolling the Cardo will be exposed to a vast choice of 1,400 different kinds of wines to sample, distributed from modern automatic dispensers, as well as foods typical to every region of the country.

At the northern end of the Cardo sits Lake Arena, a pond covering 90 metres in diameter with pebbles at the bottom that create a mirrored effect, at whose center sits the iconic showpiece of the Italian Pavilion: the Tree of Life, the highest structure on the site at 35 metres tall.

The only building on the Cardo that will remain after Expo is over is the Palazzo Italia, an architectural feast for the eyes designed by Nemesi & Partners to evoke the feel of a sustainable urban forest, in keeping with the Italian Pavilion's theme based on a plant nursery.

In keeping with the world fair's message of ecological sustainability, the building itself is nearly zero-energy and has many innovative features that render it eco-friendly.

Biodynamic concrete panels framing the full 9,000 square metres of the Palazzo's external facade use light to transform pollution in the air into inert salts, thereby reducing smog. Work to complete the five-storey, 12-elevator Palazzo Italia is taking place 24 hours a day.

There will be a dark market managed by the Blind Institute, typical neighborhood markets, Renato Guttuso's painting of the storied Vucciria street market in Palermo, enormous 3D interactive figures, as well as the chance to sign the Milan Charter, a sort of Kyoto Protocol on food, that will be delivered to UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon on October 16. Peck, the "Italian Temple of Gastronomical Delights", will host a restaurant within the Italian Pavilion.

The Cardo's cross street, the Decumanus, will host the Lombardy area, as well as Coldiretti agricultural group's space whose flooring is made with a special material that simulates walking on bare earth, and a sensory wall.

Also further along the Decumanus will be a host of Italian brands, from Granarolo milk, to Lavazza coffee, to Coppini olive oil, Rigoletto gelato, Poretti beer and San Pellegrino water. "The Cardo will be fun, and I think it will be very full of crowds," said Italian Pavilion Commissioner and Expo 2015 S.p.A.

President, Diana Bracco.