It was in 2006 when Michele Gattoni, export manager at a company based here, celebrated his first Spring Festival in China.

"I was in Beijing and the sound and colors of fireworks set on the lunar New Year's eve are still deep in my mind," he told Xinhua.

Ten years later, Gattoni celebrated last night's Spring Festival with a group of Italian and Chinese friends in a Chinese restaurant of the Italian business capital, enjoying a variety of Chinese delicacies.

"For me, the Chinese Spring Festival especially means dumplings," he told Xinhua, recounting the long-ago dinner in Beijing with some Chinese friends who had invited him along.

"I remember that the group's women at a certain point started to make dumplings, and they were so delicious. Then we watched the fireworks all together. I felt welcomed by these people, I felt that I was part of their families. It was such a touching experience, and that is why I am here tonight," he concluded.

Francesca Romana Di Biagio, a journalist at Il Giornale newspaper, also celebrated the Year of the Monkey with Gattoni and other friends in the same restaurant. "I wish this new year will bring me luck and happiness," she said while asking a Chinese friend to help her translate some characters that Chinese people believe will give them blessing in the coming year.

Di Biagio was in Shanghai when she celebrated Spring Festival in China years ago. "It was 2010 and it was snowing in Shanghai. The atmosphere was magic and I spent the lunar New Year's Eve in a club on the Bund with a few friends," she said.

"What I especially remember about the Chinese Spring Festival is the red color. Red was everywhere, and it was so overwhelming especially the day after, when I had a walk in the city historic center and I saw an infinite variety of red banners and red lanterns. I feel that day I saw the Spring Festival with Chinese eyes," Di Biagio told Xinhua.

Di Biagio said more and more Italians, including many who have no links with China, like to celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival. "This festival has become increasingly popular in Milan. Many people have the habit of celebrating it in Chinese restaurants, which is also a sign of a growing integration of the Chinese community in Italy," she explained.

In fact, early in the 1990s Milan used to celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival with "extraordinary dragons and lanterns full of colors and joy," noted Davide Rossi, an historian and director of the Locarno-based ISPEC Institute of History and Philosophy of Contemporary Thought, while sitting next to Di Biagio at their round table of friends on Sunday night.

"This means that the Chinese community in Milan since a long time ago has been a very influential presence able to transfer the value and beauty of China's traditions," he told Xinhua. Rossi said he had never celebrated the Spring Festival in China, yet every year he feels increasingly close to Chinese people in enjoying the festive atmosphere, no matter in which part of the world. Endit

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