Year of Italy celebrated with a Driving Tour

A hundred people are driving from Xi'an, China's ancient capital, to the city of Rome to mark the Year of Italy, a program of cultural exchanges between the two countries.

The team comprising more than 30 vehicles and a hundred people, including artists, entrepreneurs and journalists, started the driving tour last Saturday from the southern gate of Xi'an.

The journey, which will travel the entirety of the Silk Road, will take about 32 days to complete and will go through about 10 countries.

The tour was jointly organized by the governments of the two cities. A letter from the governor of Xi'an celebrating the two cities' ancient heritage will be delivered by the group to the governor of Rome.

Xi'an is the present-day capital of Shaanxi province, but it served as capital of twelve dynasties for over 1,600 years.