Who hasn’t seen some representation or other of Botticelli’s Venus rising out of the seashell?
The Italian Ministry of Tourism is betting that it’s an image that will be immediately associated with the beauty and glories of Italy and has made it the face of its new tourism campaign, “Open to Meraviglia” (Open to Wonder).
The blonde beauty with the flowing hair is indeed the protagonist, but she will appear in a very modern version, as a virtual influencer, in the project created with the contribution of the Department of Information and Publishing of the Presidency of the Council.
Not seductively nude as Botticelli posed her, but in chic up-to-the-minute outfits that any woman would envy, and depicted in the most alluring destinations of a country that is the envy of the world.
Presenting the “wonder” of Italy to the world, she will narrate its landscapes, its iconic destinations of the cities of art as well as the small villages, its food and wine specialties and the many variations of the rich and colorful tourist destinations. In the poster, social media and video campaign the Renaissance beauty appears eating pizza on Lake Como, holding a bicycle in front of Rome’s Colosseum, and taking a selfie in Venice’s Piazza San Marco, among other key tourist locations.
The claim chosen for the campaign, born from an idea from the Armando Testa group and “Open to wonder”, will consist of a promotional video and a billboard campaign set geographically among iconically representative glimpses of the beauties of southern, central and northern Italy, but which will gradually consist of new stages and itineraries, as Venus travels through the Municipalities and Regions that decide to join the digital campaign.
To further enhance her power as a virtual influencer, her “adventures” will be told on the venereitalia23 Instagram profile, on the Italia.it website and on other social platforms.
The choice of Venus, symbol of rebirth and renewal, perfectly represents the fluctuations experienced by the tourism sector of the country, which after the crisis brought on by the Covid pandemic, is once again as vigorous as before and perhaps becoming even more so. Venus will be the perfect ambassador of the rebirth of Italian tourism.
