November will see the start of the most comprehensive celebration of Italian products in Delhi and Mumbai. Under the brand umbrella Italian Festival, the Italian Trade Commission is launching the event with gastronomy and wine.

Leading five-star and stand-alone Italian restaurants of the two cities are participating in this "container of events," which is how the Italian Trade Commissioner, Giancarlo Lamio, describes the programme. The other events being planned for this ambitious showcase are in the areas of manufacturing and fashion.

The Indian Wine Academy and Delhi Wine Club will be partners of the Italian Trade Commission in this food and wine extravaganza, being held from November 17 to 26.

Lamio said evey five-star hotel participating in the event will showcase the cuisine of a particular Italian region. The hotels will also host noted chefs from Italy and their own master chefs will be encouraged to give recipes based on Italian products available in India .

Lamio also said he was also in touch with the Academia della Cucina, an Italian academy dedicated to gastronomy worldwide, which is being promoted by the Italian Ambassador, Antonio Armellini. "We are exploring ways to organise a collateral event with the Academia," he said.

The Commission, Lamio promised, will publish the recipes, prepared by the country's best chefs, in an easy-to-carry booklet, which will be distributed on a massive scale through restauirants and mass-circulation newspapers and magazines to an audience comprising the food and beverage trade as well as the food-loving public.

Also on the cards is a comprehensive guide to Italian wines available in New Delhi and Mumbai, to be published by the Commission, and a mega-dinner in association with the Delhi Wine Club. Another big attraction of the event will be a lucky draw, the winner of which will be entitled to a trip for two to Italy .