L'Artigiano in Fiera launches its 'spin-off': Summer Preview with 800 exhibitors

For thirty years now, Artigiano in Fiera, scheduled for ten days in early December in the halls of Fiera Milano in Rho, has marked the approach of the Christmas holidays. From this year, its 'Preview' will mark the approach of the summer holidays.

This is not a casual detail, observes Antonio Intiglietta, president of Gefi, the Fiera Milano subsidiary that organises the event. "We want to create a pleasant and relaxing context, in which people can meet the exhibiting craftsmen and get to know or taste their work and skills before their products," Intiglietta explains.

In order to give further opportunities and visibility to the many artisan excellences of our country (and not only), "Anteprima d'Estate" was therefore created, a sort of spin-off of the better known Artigiano in Fiera, which at the last edition attracted around 2,800 exhibitors from 90 countries and over one million visitors to Fiera Milano. More than 800 exhibitors from 50 countries are expected in Rho from 29 May to 2 June.

'We have been working on this for at least 15 years,' says Intiglietta, 'and now the time has come. This project was born to respond mainly to three needs: to give continuity in the relationship between the artisans and our public; to give space to the summer proposal of the companies, which is different from the winter one; to bring to the fair also new realities, whose products are more suitable for this season, as shown by the fact that about 200 new artisans will participate in the Anteprima'.

It will be an opportunity for smaller exhibitors to exhibit in a smaller and therefore more manageable event: there will be four pavilions (instead of eight) and five days instead of ten, but the 'trademark' of the winter event remains, which aims to present to the public 'not products, but human experiences that generate work,' adds Intiglietta.