Every year, the famous travel publisher Lonely Planet announces the hottest destinations in the world to visit in the following twelve months. They are usually divided in four sections, regions, cities, countries and best-value destinations.

All these places are chosen for the unique experienced they can offer tourists, and are chosen according aggregated preferences expressed by Lonely Planet's staff, authors, bloggers, travellers and tweeters which are then refined by "a panel of in-house travel experts based on topicality, excitement, value and that special x-factor".

This year, Milan ranked third in the Cities top ten, after Washington DC and El Chaltén, in Argentina. Although it is definitely a good result that Italy's northern capital was recognized as a place tourist should consider to visit during the next few months, especially for innovative atmosphere the Expo will create, it is a pity that in all other rankings no Italian location was included.

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