Business at the fair at “Vinitaly” and wine lovers in Verona with “Vinitaly and the City”

One of the most beautiful cities in the world, a Unesco World Heritage Site, the “capital” of Italian wine for more than half a century thanks to the most important international reference event of Italian wine, but which also boasts the record for the largest urban vineyard in the Belpaese, Verona tells the culture of Italian wine, uniting it with good food, culture, art, music and literature, in a “widespread” toast between sharing and conviviality, to wine-lovers, while business meetings between companies and operators take place at Veronafiere. From today to April 3, “Vinitaly and the City”, the “fuori salone” of “Vinitaly 2023” returns, edition No. 55 (April 2-5), 50 events in a rich schedule for everyone including tastings, masterclasses, wine talks, meetings and guided tours, in the triangle between Piazza dei Signori (Loggia di Fra Giocondo, Loggia Antica and Torre dei Lamberti), Cortile Mercato Vecchio and Cortile del Tribunale, a stone’s throw from Piazza delle Erbe and the Arena.
The great “happening” dedicated to Italian wine in the historic center of Verona, organized by Veronafiere in collaboration with the Municipality of Verona, the Province of Verona and Fondazione Cariverona, opens today with “Lives-The Incredible Life of Maurizio Cattelan told in words and music” organized for the “fuori salone” by ArtVerona, the Modern and Contemporary Art Fair at its 18th edition at Veronafiere (Oct. 13-15). An immersive narrative to discover the hyperbolic life of the Italian artist among the world’s best-known and most quoted artists, translated into words by Nicolas Ballario, contemporary art expert, face of Sky Arte and voice of Radio Rai, and set to music by Rodrigo D’Erasmo, multi-instrumentalist, composer and member of Afterhours, and Giulio Favero, in the Loggia di Fra Giocondo in Piazza dei Signori. But also with Akènta Sub from the San Maria La Palma Winery in Alghero, the first Italian Vermentino to be aged at a depth of 30-40 meters in the protected waters of the Porto Conte-Alghero Regional Park, the official wine chosen for the inaugural toast. The underwater sparkling wine with the auspicious name (from “chent'annos”, long life in Sardinian) resurfaces from the seabed to star in the squares of “Vinitaly and the City”. In the shadow of Dante, who is also the protagonist of the exhibition “Disposti a salire alle stelle - Il Purgatorio cantica del perdono”, curated by Franco Nembrini at Castel San Pietro, which presents it on Saturday, April 1, the Loggia di Fra Giocondo houses the heart of “Vinitaly and the City”, the large “Enoteca di Vivite-Alleanza delle Cooperative”. where it is possible to taste wines from all over Italy, before venturing into mixology in the Loggia Antica, with proposals from Bartenders Group Italia, Nespresso, Molinari, Italian Wine Brands, The Organics by Red Bull, Consorzio dell'Asti Spumante and Moscato d’Asti Docg, Campari and Acqua delle Stelle by Pernigo.
The Lounge by Banca Passadore & C. (official partner of the event) illuminates the architectures of the Corte della Signoria degli Scaligeri, while the Consorzio Tutela Lugana Doc raises the toast bar to a height of 84 meters, in the panoramic terrace of the Torre dei Lamberti. Instead, the made-in-Italy wine geography is redrawn in the Cortile Mercato Vecchio, hosted for the occasion by embassies from Lake Garda, with the Consorzio di Tutela Chiaretto and Bardolino, and from the province of Treviso, with Consorzio Vini Asolo Montello, to the tip of the boot with the Region of Calabria. Also held here are the “Wine Talks” by “Vinitaly and the City”, led by oenologist and wine writer Sissi Baratella, a space for debate and discussion between the public and producers. Eleven moments ranging from Custoza Doc, the white of the Veronese, to the wines made in Italy most suitable for the aperitif with Enoitalia, passing through the 250 vintages of Masi, the nuances of native whites and the dosages, from extra brut to dry, of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Docg. Focus also on the passion for red, the most recent vintages and the comparison between bubbly and still whites, not forgetting the talk on Amarone and Valpolicella Superiore with guest the Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella. Contending, on the other hand, the Courtyard of the Tribunal, in a review of snapshots from the wine scene across the country, are Gambero Rosso’s “Vini d’Italia” guide and the Region of Lazio, the protagonists of tastings and tastings of food and wine curiosities.
There is no shortage of literary appointments, in collaboration with Verona’s Feltrinelli Bookstore, which enters the schedule on Sunday, April 2, with Roberto Valbuzzi (son of art and chef of the Crotto Valtellina restaurant, as well as a well-known television face) talking about his “Cuoco, ristoratore, contadino”, published by Gribaudo, while Joe Bastianich presents his book “Il grande racconto del vino italiano”, written with Tiziano Gaia for Mondadori Electa. The word then goes from the judges to the podium of “MasterChef Italia”, with Edoardo Franco, winner of the 2023 edition. who on Monday, April 3, brings to the Loggia di Fra Giocondo, all the grit of his first cookbook “Daje! My cooking without borders”, published by Baldini + Castoldi. For soccer lovers, Hellas Verona is also hosting “Vinitaly and the City”, in a location colored yellow-blue: at the Hellas Store, a stone’s throw from the Arena, it is possible to taste the labels of Bolla Vini. And with guided tours you can visit historic places in the city, such as the Salone delle Feste of Palazzo Balladoro, dating back to the 17th century, or the medieval heart of Verona, with its “squares of power”.
From iconic reds to native whites, from trendy rosés to effervescent sparkling wines, there are all the colors of Italian wine in the “Vinitaly and the City” tasting program. Complementing the tasting proposals in the various lounges, is, in fact, a calendar with more than 20 appointments starting with masterclasses in the Council Chamber of the Palazzo Scaligero headquarters of the Province of Verona (Piazza dei Signori-Loggia di Fra Giocondo), which, for the 2023 edition of “Vinitaly and the City”, opens its doors for the first time to wine tastings. The special oenological lessons begin today with a tasting dedicated to Allegrini’s Valpolicella, and continue on Saturday, April 1, with sparkling wine trials and a journey through native Calabrian grape varieties from the Calabria region, as well as the different styles of Lugana narrated by the Consortium. On Sunday, April 2, it is the turn of the tasting of three cocktails accompanied by the various seasonings of Asiago cheese organized by the Consortium, and “MicroMega Wines” with an excursus on niche, limited-run Italian productions of the highest quality presented by wine writer Ian D’Agata, who for the occasion moves from “Vinitaly” for a pop version of the tasting (to be repeated on Monday, April 3). The last day also finds space for the history of Asolo Prosecco in the tasting organized by the Consorzio Vini Asolo Montello.
But innovation also takes the field with the presentation of the “Caporale method: a new way to evaluate bubbles” (Sunday, April 2, Piazza dei Signori-Loggia di Fra Giocondo). This is a particular patent registered by Tommaso Caporale, journalist and TV face known as “Mister Bubbles”, which allows the characterization of sparkling wines through the sound of bubbles in the glass and without resorting to tasting.
For Federico Bricolo, president of Veronafiere, “Vinitaly is a great opportunity for Verona just as Verona is a great opportunity for “Vinitaly” precisely thanks to the “fuori salone” which, this year, concentrates in four days a calendar that ranges from art to culture and music to wine, the fil rouge of the entire event. A strong and symbiotic bond, that between the fair and the city, which we intend to strengthen more and more through quality projects such as “Vinitaly and the City”, capable of involving local institutions, citizens, enthusiasts and tourists”. “For our exhibitors and professional operators, Verona represents an added value that amplifies the business vocation of the fair”, stresses Veronafiere CEO Maurizio Danese. “A propensity that we want to strengthen more and more, highlighting the diversity of targets between “Vinitaly” and “Vinitaly and the City”, which from this year returns under our organizational direction. Verona is an extraordinary international stage that the fair also contributes to enhance through the media visibility that “Vinitaly” generates every year in Italy and abroad: in 2022, almost 4 billion viewers in the event's highlight week”.
The curiosity at “Vinitaly and the City”: “I Love Vino Rock”, the “wine guitar” signed Paoletti.
It unveils its rock soul “Vinitaly and the City”, the most pop event that, in anticipation of “Vinitaly 2023”, on Saturday, April 1, with “I Love Vino Rock”, in Piazza dei Signori-Loggia di Fra Giocondo, presents to the public the “wine guitar” created by Fabrizio Paoletti just for Veronafiere's “fuorisalone”. Made of chestnut wood like the “sisters” created by the Tuscan luthier and played by the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Roger Waters, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp, the “Vinitaly and the City” guitar will find a home at the Hard Rock Cafe in Piazza Bra where, during the event, it will turn wine lovers themselves into rock stars who will be able to try their hand at a high-wine jam session.
Born in 1973, Fabrizio Paoletti is a luthier and Master Builder of guitars also played on the international stages of Bon Jovi, Keith Richards and Noel Gallagher. With what has now become Paoletti Guitars®, he has signed arpeggios for Elisa, Laura Pausini and Maurizio Solieri in Italy. And it was in collaboration with Vasco Rossi’s guitarist that he created the first “wine guitars”, made from the Paoletti family’s Chianti barrels. Giving the touch, literally, “di-vino”, is 130-170-year-old chestnut wood, capable of giving the instruments a unique sound.