The official opening of the Italian pavilion took place on June 6, 1904. From 4-6 p.m. that day, visitors walked up the wide stairs through the Ionic columns into a pavilion designed to resemble a Roman emperor's villa.
For the festivities, each woman received a box of candy tied with red, green, and white ribbons, the colors of the Italian flag.
During the Fair, concerts featuring Italian music entertained Italian visitors and special guests in the pavilion and its lovely surrounding gardens. Visitors walked through the pavilion's reception room to view reproductions of statues from the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii along with modern works of art.
