It was a sold-out weekend, with artisan workshops and businesses taken by storm to discover the secrets of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia’s excellent food and wine production. At the end of the three-day event, 12,000 people (20 percent more than last year) were registered at the entrance to the 20 Taste Factories where showcooking, conferences, workshops and guided tours were held. Seats for guided tours, workshops, and showcooking were sold out at all companies, despite the fact that hundreds of seats were added over the previous days and additional tour shifts.
A full house was also sold out at the inaugural event held Friday at CUOA Business School ‘s headquarters in Villa Valmarana Morosini, with a conference featuring speeches by Enrico Berto, CEO of Berto’s, Riccardo Illy, chairman of the Illy Group, and Giorgio Polegato president of Astoria Vini, on the challenges of Made in Italy and the role of companies in the food sector, and then Innocente Nardi, president of the Prosecco Consortium, and Ermete Realacci, president of the Symbola Foundation, on the prospects offered by the candidacy of the Prosecco hills as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Same overbooking situation on Friday, at Lattebusche’s Bar Bianco headquarters, during the showcooking of Leandro Luppi, star chef of the “Vecchia Malcesine” restaurant, where the meeting “Food and Nature: chefs tell their stories” was held with Matteo Bortoli, Lattebusche strategic marketing and communications manager, and Luigi Costa, director of “Venezie a Tavola.” Then on Saturday Berto’s hosted the event “Raccontare il food italiano,” with talks by Roberto Masiero, sociologist and author of “Artisti della fame. Stories of living people grappling with food” (Derive/Approdi editore), Marco Bettiol, professor of Economics and Business Management at the University of Padua and author of “Raccontare il Made in Italy” (Marsilio), and Martha Friel, researcher in Economics and Business Management at IULM University of Languages and Communication and author of the essay “The Made in Italy Brand.”
The event closed this evening with the “What’s New Boiling in the Pot…and in the Vat” event at the Craft Beer Fair at PordenoneFiere. Journalist Chiara Andreola led the speeches by Ivan Borsato, president for the Veneto region of the craft brewers category in Confartigianato; Marco Colognese, contributor to the wine and food guide “Venezie a Tavola”; Severino Garlatti Costa, president of the Craft Brewers of Friuli Venezia Giulia; and Carlo Nappo, chef of the restaurant “Podere dell’Angelo” in Pasiano (Pordenone).
Great satisfaction was expressed by the promoters, who emphasize that We-Food has not only been consolidated from last year but is also confirmed as a format for the promotion of food and wine excellence that is valid not only for the territory of the Venetian regions, but can also be used for other Italian territories. Finally, special thanks were expressed by the organizers for partners such as CUOA Business School, Berto’s, Lattebusche, Rigoni di Asiago andAstoriaVini, as well as the 20 participating companies.
