The fall 2023 edition of VicenzaOro, which ran Sept. 8–12 in Vicenza, Italy, has come to a close, and the numbers are in: The fair saw a 6% increase in total visitors, with half of all attendees coming from abroad—a true representation of VO’s global reach.
According to Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), the show’s presenter, 132 countries attended VicenzaOro, with many countries—particularly from the African continent (Mozambique, Ghana, Mauritius, the Ivory Coast, and Kenya, to name a few)—participating for the first time.
What attracts these visitors, agreed exhibitors and executives, is the massive selection and variety of Italian-made jewelry among the 1,200 exhibitors. “The ability that this country has in evoking emotions, beauty, and luxury does not exist anywhere else,” said Roberto Marcato, Veneto regional councillor for economic development, at the opening ceremony, adding that Italian jewelry boasts “quality that cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world.” According to the minister of Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso—who also spoke at the opening event—the Italian gold and jewelry industry captures “the essence of Made in Italy: tradition, quality, innovation, and artistic creation.”
In 2022, Italian jewelry exports reached nearly 10 billion euros, an increase of nearly 40% over 2019. And while it’s too early to make a sweeping statement about 2023, exports in the first five months rose 9.3% compared with 2022. “Industrial production, thanks to the boost of the early months, has remained at the levels of a year ago (–0.1%), unlike many other Italian manufacturing sectors that have, instead, shown significant downturns,” Claudia Piaserico, president of Confindustria Federorafi, a coalition of goldsmith, silversmith, and jewelry companies, said at the VicenzaOro opening ceremony.
Piaserico, Urso, and Marcato were joined at the opening ceremony by a group that included Luca Zaia (president of the Veneto region), Giacomo Possamai (mayor of Vicenza), Andrea Nardin (president of the province of Vicenza), Matteo Zoppas (president of Italian Trade Agency), Corrado Peraboni (CEO of IEG), and Marco Carniello (global exhibition director of jewelry and fashion for IEG). Before speaking of exports, statistics, or anything jewelry-related, they all spent a moment paying tribute to the late Lorenzo Cagnoni, the beloved IEG president who died Sept. 5. Said Peraboni: “His vision continues and looks far into the future.”
The next edition of VicenzaOro is slated for Jan. 19–23, 2024.
Top: Outside the VicenzaOro 2023 September fair (photos courtesy of IEG)
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