An Italian region on Wenceslas Square

For the past ten days, many of Prague's residents have been wondering what a big, white marquee is doing in the middle of the city's main thoroughfare, Wenceslas Square, and why it regularly emits Italian popular music. Well, after embarking on a little expedition, I discovered it to be a world completely different to that of Prague, a Mediterranean world of music and wine and sea. And it is called - Molise World.

You might be perplexed as to what Molise World is, and, moreover, what it is doing smack bang in the middle of Prague. For those of you not familiar with Italian regional geography, Molise is a region in southern Italy, and Molise World is part of that region's efforts to promote its products and tourism.

Molise World is on a tour around Central Europe - it was in Warsaw in December, and it arrived in Prague around ten days ago. I spoke to Rosario de Matteis, a Molise regional councillor responsible for tourism, and asked him why Molise World had chosen to set itself up in central Prague:

"We are here in the centre of Prague to introduce our landscape, our beauty, and to offer an ideal, relaxing holiday. But we are also here to introduce our products, the products of food and wine of our land. And we'll be here doing this exactly until the seventh of March. Together with us are tourist operators who have offers and tourist packages for those who wish to honour us with their presence in our region."

Many tourists from Italy come to Prague and there is much Italian investment in the Czech Republic. But what about the other way around? I asked Mr de Matteis about the expectations the Italians have for Czech visitors to their country, and to Molise in particular:

"We wanted to choose the capitals of East Europe - and we'll also be in Budapest in March - because we foresee the future of tourism being tied to these countries. Also, with the foreknowledge of these countries' entry into the European Union, I think that the future will see the influx of tourists from these areas into our beautiful Italy, and above all into our region."

And it seems that the Czechs are enjoying this part of the Mediterranean: with dancing, music, food and wine, Molise World has brought a lively end to winter into the centre of the Czech capital. Praguers have been dancing some cold Czech nights away to the live Italian music that Molise World offers, and here is what one of the Czech visitors there had to say:

"On Wenceslas Square we can feel a real Italian atmosphere, which means the spirit of the sea, mountains and country."