TORONTO — The Italian National Tourist Board (ENIT) played host to travel industry professionals at BMO Field, where the crowd watched as Toronto FC faced off against Montreal Impact. ENIT is a proud sponsor of Toronto FC and used last night’s event to showcase everything Italy, especially in destinations outside the country’s very well-known tourist spots.

Bologna, Italy has just opened the world’s largest agri-food part named FICO Eataly World – FICO means ‘cool’ in Italian. Guests can discover Italian agriculture in 200,000 square metres of open-air fields and stables, farming factories, restaurants, educations rides, events and classes. Exploration can be done on foot or by bike, solo or guided by FICO’s Biodiversity Ambassadors.

Matera, a city in the southern region of Italy and straddling a beautiful valley, has been named Europe’s Capital of Culture 2019. Visitors can wander the old city – it’s 9,000 years old and claims to be the third-oldest inhabited settlement in the world – or visit the cave regions, where thousands of caves dot the stone slopes including churches and homes.

Heading north, Milan will host the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association’s 37th Annual Global Conference in 2020, the successful bid supported by the National Tourist Board. This will help put the spotlight on Italy as a gay-friendly destination with great style, restaurants, nightlife and more.

ENIT took last night’s event as an opportunity to remind agents that there is much more to Italy than just Rome and Venice. For more information, visit italia.it.