The Italian Trade Agency mixed it up this year for the third edition of its Italy on Madison event.

The government agency tasked with promoting Italian brands and exports transformed its New York headquarters on the Upper East Side into an Italian home, complete with a kitchen, living room, bedroom and indoor garden.

It doesn’t hurt that the ITA offices are in a spectacular five-story circa 1904 neo-Georgian townhouse on East 67^th Street that once belonged to the Auchincloss family. But the conversion of the space for the three-day event required a massive amount of work to effectively showcase the wide assortment of Italian design, beauty, food, wine and fashion products.

It also required the flexibility of the staff. Erica Di Giovancarlo, commissioner director of the ITA in the U.S., relinquished her office to a striking group of red couches, a patterned wing chair and a selection of artwork, while Alessio Nanni, the head of beauty and fashion, said his office was being used as a makeup room, and Donatella Rosso, the group’s fashion consultant, said her office was converted into the backstage space for a fashion shoot.

Di Giovancarlo said ever since arriving in the U.S. last year and discovering the building, she started to brainstorm about how it could be used to promote her country.

“The first time I came here, I said, ‘wow, it’s like the White House,’” she said. “It came to my mind that we have this building that is really beautiful, why don’t we use it to organize an event? I didn’t know exactly how to organize it. I had a lot of ideas in my mind, but then talking with my team and some designers, I said we have to use at least the ground floor and the first floor to create an Italian home.”

She said the goal was for visitors to experience what it’s like to be in an Italian home.

“To us, this is the Italian lifestyle,” she said. “It’s made of simple little things, but all of these things must be high quality. We start with a sip of coffee to start the day, then we put on a beautiful dress of silk and go to work in a beautiful car. Then when we come back home, we doze on a sofa with a nice, warm, soft cashmere blanket. This is our lifestyle.”

And it’s what was replicated for Italy on Madison by Gilda Bojardi and Paola Navone, who created a variety of vignettes throughout the space that sported a floral design theme. More than 100 pieces from Italian furniture companies were used on the two floors, serving to spotlight some 40 brands.

The space was open to the public and included events such as A Taste of the Italian Morning, hosted by Bilena Settepani, a New York-based Italian baker who served espresso and pastries. There was also a fragrance-specific event hosted by Steven Gavrielatos, a fragrance storyteller and creator of The Smelling Club; a Face Yoga session with Annelise Hagen, founder of Yoga Face; an eyewear lounge hosted by Charlotte Bickley, editor at large of Daily Front Row, and a panel discussion on Italian design and sustainable craftsmanship.

There was also an immersive risotto cooking experience and a wine and spirits activation.

And of course, fashion played a starring role. On Tuesday night, an opening party featured a live runway show and on Thursday, the ITA planned to offer a behind-the-scenes visit to a live editorial fashion shoot with photographer Samantha Rapp.

“We are talking fashion, wine, beauty and travel to promote Italian excellence,” Di Giovancarlo said. “We received almost 100 requests to participate, which is a great success. New York is such a vibrant city, full of events and things to do, so I wanted to propose something different.”