Ikea 2 is expected to open in Rome at 07.00 on 15 June.

Its home will be the biggest shopping centre in Europe, which is being built at Via delle Vigne Nuove beside the ring road (GRA), near the beginning of the Rome-Florence section of the A1 motorway.

Ikea Porta di Roma, as it will be called, will be the first shop to open at the site, which will eventually house 250 shops, a multi-screen cinema, a hyper-market and flats and houses for 10,000 people. The new Ikea, the second in Rome, will cover an area of more that 30,000 sqm and employ 500 people on the site. There are now eleven Ikea shops all over Italy, from Naples to Turin; their turnover in Italy in 2004 was 714 million.

From 20-24 June Ikea Porta di Rome will be offering live ethnic music every afternoon at 16.30 and at 17.30, see www.ikea.it for information.