STEFANO Beltrame, Italian consul general in Shanghai, applied to come to the city four years ago when he knew his predecessor was leaving — because he saw the city “as the new center of the world.”

And it didn’t take the proactive Italian and his family long to embark on a China adventure with his wife, Nicoletta Beltrame, and their three daughters.

“Shanghai is the place I like most in China,” Stefano said. “It's kind of like New York City in the United States and you want to know more about it.”

The Italian family have managed to combine the best of the East and the West. The Western-style lounge area is decorated with Chinese-style wooden chairs, suspended photos showing old towns with Chinese red lanterns and rows and rows of Chinese vases.

“I took these photos when we traveled around China’s old towns,” Nicoletta said.

“And these vases were all bought by my wife,” added Stefano. “She loves collecting vases, but it will be a tough job to take them all back to Italy.”

After living in Washington, Berlin, Iran and Kuwait, Shanghai is to be the Beltrames’ recent career posting destination. They are due to leave Shanghai next month, but they have many plans before they return home.

“We will try our best to travel around China and to speak more Chinese,” said Stefano.

“Yes, we have a list,” added Nicoletta.

Q: Do you remember the moment you first came to Shanghai?

Stefano: We have a tradition of taking the new consular officials to a specific Italian restaurant. So I remember the first night they took me to have an Italian dinner at this Italian restaurant in Shanghai.

Nicoletta: I came three months later. Because I was waiting in Italy till the end of school for my children. It was easier for me when he was already settled.

Q: Have you noticed any differences over the past three years?

Stefano: China is not easy for a foreigner to understand. I saw some unbelievably fast changes. When we came, the Shanghai Tower was only half built. Now it’s complete!

Shanghai is much more than we expected. It’s so energetic, so fast and moving. My expectation was it’s like New York, but this is different from New York, much better than what I expected. A foreigner can very easily live here. It’s very safe. The pollution is less than I thought.

Nicoletta: Shanghai is improving a lot. Every day is different. I see more and more blue sky. That’s nice. The energy of the city is amazing.

Q: Do you have any impressive stories relating to Shanghai?

Stefano: There is one thing I am very proud of. There is a guy we consider to be the first who could speak Italian in Shanghai. He is a Chinese scholar named Xu Guangqi (1562-1633). He learnt to speak Italian 400 years ago. When you go to his residence in Xuhui District, you can see it’s an amazing place. It’s both Western and Eastern. It's very Chinese but there are a lot of Western elements.

Xu Guangqi was a good friend of Matteo Ricci. (Matteo Ricci was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions.) It’s very interesting to see the way they tried to understand each other’s cultures. It’s a good example for the future.

Nicoletta: I am impressed by the shikumen (stone-gated) houses in downtown Shanghai. Behind Xintiandi, there are many longtang (lanes and alleys). I went there with an expat group once. When we went inside a house, the old people made me feel very welcome and happy.

And often in one place there is everything related to just one thing. For example, on Fuzhou Road, everything is related to books and printed items. I was very impressed by this kind of layout.

Q: How do you spend your leisure time in Shanghai?

Stefano: I go jogging. This year I took part in the Shanghai Marathon which is only 10 kilometers. I trained a lot on the weekends to make sure I got to the end.

Q: Which place in Shanghai do you like best? Why?

Stefano: Of course, the Xu Guangqi Memorial Hall. I also like Julu Road. There are a lot of little restaurants where you can go and meet friends. I also like to walk around the Bund.

Q: Which road or area do you like best in Shanghai?

Stefano: Julu Road, Nanjing Road W. and the Shanghai Exhibition Center. There are a lot of places that make me feel at home.

Nicoletta: I like Taikang Road and Tianzifang. It’s very lively. It’s very special. You can buy a lot of small things and people are so kind.

Q: What elements of Shanghai do you love?

Stefano: The energy of the city is amazing. It’s changing very fast. The city is huge. If you look at Pudong, it’s like a 20-year-old boy. If you look at the Bund, it’s an old gentleman.

There is something I really like about Shanghai — safety. It’s a very important issue. In Shanghai, you don’t have to worry about your safety.

Nicoletta: I like the city because modern technology is changing the way people live all the time. This is very interesting.

The younger generation are very nice. They are very curious about expats and they ask us lots of questions. I like the energy.

Q: Are there any shortages in Shanghai? Any suggestions to make it better?

Stefano: If Shanghai needs to be the center of the world, it should be more open to foreigners. Also, the schools are very expensive. International schools are very expensive, which is a bit too much.

Nicoletta: I think the pollution can be improved.

Q: You must have many impressive memories during your life, share one or two?

Stefano: We have a lot of good memories. In Shanghai, we were very proud when the Italian president came to visit the tomb of Xu Guangqi. It was an official visit.

Another thing is quite different. It’s the Shanghai Marathon.

And we’ve had a very long term here, so we’ve met a lot of leaders and heads of states. We have a lot of memories.

Nicoletta: Today is our wedding anniversary. We got married 23 years ago. The three girls we have were born in three different countries. One daughter was born in Italy, one was born in Kuwait and one in Germany.

We are leaving Shanghai in the summer. There are still some places we want to go and see, such as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Danba, a Tibetan part of southwest China’s Sichuan Province. We have a list.