"A large number of Chinese delegations from 20 different Chinese provinces have also visited the EXPO Milan, opening new cooperation projects with Italian counterparts," he added.

On the other hand, China is Italy's first trade partner in Asia, and the second top export destination country outside Europe after the Unites States.

Such developments in bilateral trade and business would bring about an increase in the demand of financial services, according to Italian officials.

"Improving Italy's competitiveness and attract more foreign investments, especially in infrastructures, is one of the three main pillars of the government's current economic policy," ministerial counsellor Scalera said.

"ICBC can play a primary role in this field, and the opening of the branch in Rome is a strong signal," he added.

ICBC provides financial services and products to over 460 million individual customers and 5 million corporate clients through some 400 overseas branches in 42 different countries, according to the bank.

Such global dimension might be another key factor from an Italian perspective, especially since the backbone of Italy's economy is made of small and medium-sized firms that struggle more than bigger ones to get funding.

"Italian companies must increase their internationalization process in order to grow, and a global bank can be of much use to them in this," Giuliano Noci, Vice Rector for China with Politecnico University in Milan, said.