DESPITE its status as Italy's second largest city and capital of fashion and finance, Milan's rulers fear the city's honour is under threat because of its likely failure to feature on a new version of the Monopoly board.

The mayor, Letizia Moratti, has launched an appeal for the Milanese to vote in droves in a poll to save their city from the humiliation of being left off the board.

The issue has taken on added sensitivity at a time when Milan is aiming to host the 2015 Universal Exposition. “The absence of Milan from such an important and historic game ... would represent, albeit on a small scale, a lack of recognition,” said Alessandro Fede Pellone, a councillor for Silvio Berlusconi's Freedom People movement who tabled the motion that prompted the mayor's appeal.

The trouble began when the makers decided to release a new version to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the release of Monopoly in Italy in which the squares would correspond to towns rather than streets. They decided to leave it to the public to vote online over which should be included.

So far, Milan has received about a third of what it needs to make it on to the board. Loyal Milanese have until July 28 to save the honour of their city.

But they can probably count without the help of the leader of the centre-left opposition, Pierfrancesco Majorino. “It seems to me that this is tragicomic,” he said. “The mayor should be using her time to manage the city and not devoting herself to the fate of a boxed game.”

— The Guardian, London