Vicenzaoro Highlights, January 2024: Ready to Rewrite the Future

In an edition that marks the seventh consecutive decade of the event, we can treat ourselves to a brief rewind of what was in the past, demonstrating how Vicenzaoro has always been a cutting-edge event with strong international appeal and ambitions that are now bearing plentifulfruit. Taking some highlights from the monologue recited during the Opening Ceremony by actor and journalist Matteo Caccia, here then are the stages that, since the first editions held in the Salvi Gardens near Piazza Castello in Vicenza, have led to what we all know now and to crossing national borders with successful formats such as JGT in Dubai and SIJE in Singapore. Established in 1954, the International Gold, Jewelry and Silverware Exhibition - that was its original name –was initially held in a context that emphasized the added value and pride of being part of a well-defined territory in the heart of a district that, even then, had its own history of centuries and dozens of family businesses dedicated to working with gold. The exhibition grew year by year, so much so that soon after, artists such as Mina and Modugno, at the height of their “boom” following hit songs “Tintarella di luna” and “Nel blu, dipinto di blu”, were called to inaugurate it. In 1965, the event began to sprout its first buds by doubling up and separating the jewelry part from the marble and ceramics exhibition. In the Sixties, the first foreign visitors arrived from Kenya, Jamaica, the Far East, and VIPs, including the Belgian Royals with Paola Ruffo of Calabria declaring, “Not even court has such beautiful things.” The following decade saw the first major expansion of the exhibition center, which, in the meantime, had moved to the industrial area where the so-called “Pyramid” or “Aztec Temple” was erected to become a reference point for everyone to meet, do business, and grow together ever since. There were over 500 regular brands and fair added a little more to each edition, made up of numbers, visitors, exceptional guests, fame and authority. At the same time, the city also seemed to come to life, offering everyone its extraordinary beauty, made up of an artistic and architectural heritage that should be divulged and publicized as it deserves. The route was plotted: the fair for the city, the city for the fair. Its rebranding to Vicenzaoro also originated from this factor. It was the 1980s and the time had come to look even further. The first foreign exhibitors arrive: Thailand and Hong Kong in the lead, constant presences at the show ever since. The 1990s. While Gino Paoli and Andrea Bocelli sang their hits in Piazza dei Signori for the benefit of Vicenzaoro guests, the first cross-border journalist also arrived from China. The last two decades were a sprint, amid new design inputs, new marketing strategies, communication, technology and focal themes such as sustainability and supply chain ethics. Until 2016, the year of the merger between Fiera di Rimini and Fiera di Vicenza and the creation of IEG Italian Exhibition Group, constituting Italy's largest player in terms of number of events (more than 50 a year) and becoming one of the global leaders, laying the foundations for what is now a wellknown reality for all: the single management of national jewelry events between Vicenza and Arezzo, the formats in Dubai and Singapore with further expansion planned abroad, but firstly at home. In February, in fact, renovations will begin at the Expo Center with the demolition of the iconic “Pyramid” and the addition of more than 22,000 square meters of new exhibition space. Goodbye to a symbol of the past, but with a goal: to think even bigger, like yesterday, for tomorrow.