The Ministry of Agricultural Policies stands with Vinitaly. Centinaio said, “Verona, wine capital”

“We want to be close to fairs, the wine world and Veronafiere, which, through Vinitaly, has created a National and International brand that has transformed Verona into the capital of wine”, stated Gian Marco Centinaio, Undersecretary of Agricultural Policies (responsible for wine). He met with the heads of Veronafiere, the vice-president, Matteo Gelmetti and the general manager, Giovanni Mantovani, and discussed restarting, outlining Veronafiere’s numerous initiatives scheduled over the next few months. Operawine, the Vinitaly tasting with Wine Spectator, is scheduled for June 19th and the Vinitaly Special Edition, together with the “General States of Wine”, is the first event that will restart commercial contacts in person, from October 17th to 19th. The event aims to unite institutions, supply chain associations and companies, involving them in a system project representing the first business event in 2021 dedicated to the wine sector. And then, enthusiastically restarting Vinitaly, edition number 54, from April 10-13, 2022. There are more events scheduled, including Vinitaly Design International Packaging Competition (June 11th), Vinitaly 5 Star Wines, The book (June 16-18) and the Vinitaly International Academy courses (June 20-23). Further, there are events scheduled abroad, such as: following Vinitaly Russia in Moscow (March 23rd) and St. Petersburg (March 25th) as well as Vinitaly Chengdu in China (April 3-6), the second edition of Wine To Asia, in person, is scheduled in Shenzhen, also in China, in June (8th -10th). In September, Vinitaly will be in Beijing (13th -17th) and then Brazil, for Wine South America (22nd -24th).
“The Ministry highly approves Veronafiere’s initiatives, because we need to restart and do it in the best way possible. The Ministry will be there”, said Centinaio, and continued, “at the beginning of summer, but probably even by the end of May will we be in a different situation than we are today, and I am convinced that we can start again, respecting the rules”, he said recently, in an interview with WineNews. According to Centinaio, in view of the extraordinary edition of Vinitaly in October, specifically, it is necessary to implement coordinated actions to support the sector.
“The number one priority is to help producers of quality wines, who, due to the closures of restaurants and bars, have suffered the most,” said Centinaio. The occasion of the meeting was also the participation of Undersecretary Centinaio to present the project for the Wine Museum. Matteo Gelmetti, vice president of Veronafiere, reminded everyone that Verona is one of the ten “Great Wine Capitals” in the world, the International network created to promote wine tourism. “Vinitaly schedules on average 40 events a year on the North European, Asian, Russian, North and South American markets”, emphasized Gelmetti. “In the past as well, even in the most difficult moments on the markets, Veronafiere has always proved to be at the center of the system, covering a decisive role, and guaranteeing companies the tools of renovation and rebirth coming from the know-how expressed by the great promotion system that Vinitaly represents in Italy and on International markets. This is the reason that we are very interested in the project to create an Italian Wine Museum precisely in the location of the Verona Fair. It is a cultural initiative that will enhance the wine tourist potential of the city, and have all the positive consequences in terms of related activities”.