Vinitaly is the event that more than any other has marked the evolution of the national and international wine system, helping to make wine one of the most engaging and dynamic realities in the primary sector.
1967
On 22 and 23 September, the Italian Wine Days take place in the Gran Guardia palace. It is the official birth certificate of Vinitaly.
1969
In the third edition of the Giornate del Vino Italiano-Vinitaly, in addition to the conference activity, 130 wineries exhibit their products.
1971
The event becomes Vinitaly – Exhibition of Wine Activities, a real trade show. Organized by Agriturist and led by Mario Soldati, the auction of fine wines takes place. Vinitaly is also accompanied by a merchandise section dedicated to machinery, equipment and products for oenology and the first edition of the DOC Wine Catalogue Exhibition.
1978
Vinitaly obtains the status of "international" and opens its doors to the participation of foreign companies.
1980
Vinitaly changes date and from now on takes place between the end of March and the beginning of April.
1987
The first Salone dell'Oliva is born within Vinitaly.
1988
The Salone dell'Oliva becomes SOL. Distilla, the Grappa, Brandy and Spirits Exhibition, is also born.
1992
The International Wine Competition is born, now in its 18th edition, and has become the most selective and participated in the world with an average of 90 medals awarded out of over 3,600 wines from about 30 countries.
1995
Vinitaly absorbs Distilla and takes on the name Vinitaly - International Wine and Spirits Exhibition.
1996
The International Packaging Competition is born, to reward the best wine clothing.
1998
The internationality of Vinitaly is confirmed and relaunched by Veronafiere's choice, on the centenary of its activity, to go to China, to Shanghai, with China Wine, a positive experience that will be repeated in the following years.
The sector of equipment dedicated to wine and oil becomes an ad hoc exhibition, Enolitech, the Exhibition of Techniques for Viticulture, Oenology, Olive and Oil Technologies.
2002
In June, Veronafiere brings Vino&Olio to Singapore.
2003
After a first experience in 2002, the exhibition also "conquers" America with Vinitaly US Tour in Chicago and San Francisco, and participates in IFOWS, the Italian Food and Wine Show in Mumbai, India.
Vinitaly for You is born, the after-Vinitaly dedicated to wine lovers, who find in the Palazzo della Gran Guardia, in the historic heart of Verona, a young and welcoming environment to taste the best wines.
2004
Rebranding of Vinitaly. For the first time in six years of presence, the Vinitaly brand is sold directly in China and, for the first time, in Russia. The Vinitaly US Tour continues with Miami and San Francisco.
2005
The internationalization phase of the brand at the service of the national wine system is enhanced. New "manoeuvres" in India with Ifows to prepare the ground for the first proper edition of Vinitaly India. In May the second edition of Vinitaly Russia takes place and in October the tour takes place in the USA (Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles). November, as per established tradition, sees the 7th edition of Vinitaly China in Shanghai.
During the main fair in Verona, in April, new initiatives are launched that combine wine and international catering with "I Viaggi di Gulliver" and "Wine & Food Pairing", give space to emerging artists with "Trendy Today and Big Tomorrow" and promote meetings with buyers and the horeca channel.
2006
Vinitaly reaches full maturity, forty years old. It presents two new exhibition pavilions (10 and 11) and expands its presence on foreign markets thanks to Vinitaly Japan, in November in Tokyo, at the first edition with the Vinitaly brand in India, in Mumbai and New Delhi, at the third in Russia with the novelty of St. Petersburg together with the consolidated Moscow, at Vinitaly US Tour (in Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas) and at Vinitaly China in Shanghai (China).
The International Packaging Competition opens to liqueurs and spirits obtained from fruit other than grapes; In 2005 it welcomed spirits from wine products.
2007
After the on-line matching on the website www.vinitaly.com successfully tested in previous years, Vinitaly launches "Taste Italy", a new initiative to meet supply and demand. Here, the best Italian companies present the "top product" and the "new product" of the year to foreign operators through an innovative dispenser system.
There is also news for the International Wine Competition, thanks to an agreement between Veronafiere and the exclusive Japanese fine food distribution chain Isetan, which in October 2007 allows the creation of a sales corner for the winning wines in the Isetan stores in Tokyo. An agreement with Spazio Italia also gives the winning company of the Italian section of the Competition 15 days of promotion within the area managed by Air Dolomiti/Lufthansa in the departures area for Italy of Munich International Airport.
Vinitaly 2007 saw the birth of Genius Vini, an integrated system at the service of companies, the result of the consortium between Veronafiere, Federvini and Uiv. Among the objectives, to identify new outlet markets and the promotion of the Italian product.
The year 2007 ended with the recognition by the EU of the quality, innovation and organisation achieved by Veronafiere with its international initiatives in the oenological field: Brussels approved a three-year EU project (2008-2010) co-financed by Italy and the Italian Wine Union of about 4 million euros for the promotion of quality European wines in China. India and Russia, with Veronafiere as the implementing body of the project.
2008
"Passionate Business" is launched, which represents the synthesis of Veronafiere's operating philosophy: passion for wine and concrete business.
Vinitaly World Tour celebrates its 10th anniversary, starting again from India in January. In February, it was the turn of Vinitaly US Tour, which was split for a first trip to Miami and Palm Beach. In June, a new stop in Russia, while in October Vinitaly is back in the USA in Chicago, New York and for the first time in the capital Washington. The calendar abroad is completed in November with Japan (where the promotional agreement between Veronafiere and Isetan is confirmed until 2010) and China, with the three stages of Beijing, Shanghai and, for the first time,
Macau.
2009
On the occasion of Vinitaly 2009, the new Pavilion 1 is inaugurated, bringing the gross covered area of the exhibition centre to 150 thousand square metres.
Pursuing an environmentally friendly development policy, Veronafiere has equipped the new pavilion with 2,000 square meters of solar panels, capable of producing the annual electricity necessary to supply 33 apartments.
After the positive experience of 2008 of Agrifood Club, the review of quality agri-food, it is decided to definitively expand the product offer in favor of interested foreign operators, in addition to wine with Vinitaly and extra virgin olive oil with Sol, to all the made in Italy agri-food.
Enolitech exhibitors are provided with a free anti-counterfeiting service for the protection of the industrial and intellectual property of the products on display to deal with the presence of operators in the sector who exhibit "counterfeit products" or exercise "unfair competition".
In November, the first time of Vinitaly World Tour in Seoul, Korea.
2010
Advanced services for businesses, direct marketing via the web to increase the number of specialized operators from abroad and to retain those who have already been to Vinitaly are the leitmotif of the 44at This year's edition of Vinitaly receives for the first time in its history the official visit of the President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano. Innovations have also been introduced to make the stay of visitors at the event more assisted, with services via PDA or Blackberry and in the new My Vinitaly space on the event website. An online platform dedicated to journalists has been inaugurated, where they can find press releases, images, videos, interviews, in-depth analysis, market research in an organized way, so as to have the whole of Vinitaly just a click away.
In addition to the "Vinitaly Nazione 2010" and "Gran Vinitaly 2010" Special Awards, the International Wine Competition introduces the "Vinitaly Region 2010" Special Award. The medal-winning wines will be able to mark the words "International Wine Competition 2010" on the bottles: the recognition of the quality achieved thus becomes a marketing tool that can be used all over the world.
Singapore joins the stages of Vinitaly World Tour, which changes format to become Vinitaly in the World, after the agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture and Veronafiere, which provides for the possibility for consortia, associations and individual wineries to include in national and regional promotion projects abroad, partly financed by the new CMO wine, also the participation in stages of Vinitaly in third countries.
2011
Vinitaly is the protagonist of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy with "The Bottle of the Unification of Italy". The project, launched by Veronafiere during the 2010 edition during the historic visit of the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, is the only one to have obtained the official logo of the celebrations in the sector.
From a blend of 20 pure red wines and 20 pure white wines, representative of a variety from each of the 20 Italian regions, two wines have been created which, after being offered to the President of the Republic Napolitano, will be donated to the highest international authorities.
At the 45th Vinitaly "Sparkling Italy" scene, tasting of sparkling wines produced with classic method and charmat dedicated to foreign buyers, journalists and operators pre-registered and presented by the protection consortia. The presentation and tasting system is innovative, using sommeliers and computer supports.
2012
Vinitaly is renewed and reduces the opening days from 5 to 4; The weekly frequency also changes, from the traditional Thursday-Monday to Sunday-Wednesday. A decision that aims to optimize the presence of specialized traders arriving from all over the world and to give more space to operators in the horeca channel. The result was achieved with over 140,000 visitors, 35% of whom were foreigners from 116 countries, and almost 95,000 square metres of net surface area occupied in 2012 (FKM certified data) and better profiling of the operators present on levels of greater professionalism and internationality.
On the eve of the 46th Vinitaly, the first edition of OperaWine, the event that presents the best 100 Italian wineries chosen in collaboration with Wine Spectator.
Within Vinitaly, the Vivit – Vineyards, Winegrowers, Terroir exhibition is born.
2013
Vinitaly in the World, the project launched by Veronafiere to promote the excellence of Italian wines in the world, restarts at the end of January in the United States with a new name: Vinitaly International. A rebranding to further confirm the role of the event as an ambassador and partner for the development of national business all over the world, through the activation of a network of solid institutional and commercial relationships.
Vinitaly Wine Club is born: the most innovative platform for the promotion and online sale of the best Italian labels and selected wine collections appreciated by collectors and connoisseurs but still unexplored by the general public.
Vinitaly and the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB) have signed an agreement to coordinate the dates of their respective events for four years, to allow buyers and media from all over the world to optimize their presence at two of the main international events in the wine calendar.
2014
Vinitaly inaugurates two new exhibitions, Vininternational – to give organicity to the presence of foreign exhibitors – and Vinitalybio, the exhibition of certified organic wines, and proposes a new initiative expressly dedicated to business meetings called International Buyers' Lounge. To promote the knowledge of Italian wines in the world, Vinitaly International Academy was born, the educational initiative created by Vinitaly International in collaboration with Ian D'Agata.
Vinitaly, internationally recognized reference exhibition in the wine sector, is commissioned by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies to create and manage VINO - A taste of Italy, the wine pavilion for Expo Milano 2015.
Sol d'Oro doubles, with Sol d'Oro Southern Hemisphere in Chile in September. The competition will be itinerant among the countries producing extra virgin olive oil in the Southern Hemisphere.
2015
First time of Vinitaly International in Canada in January and first specialization course on Italian wine in Verona from 16 to 20 March. Created by the International Vinitaly Academy - VIA, the course gives access to two certifications based on the skills achieved: "Ambassador of Italian wine" and "Expert of Italian wine". The "Italian Wine Experts" will support as teachers the activity of VIA in their countries.
At Expo 2015 the VINO pavilion – A tase of Italy, the first dedicated to wine in the history of the Universal Exposition, offers 3,600 labels, 150,000 bottles and about 800,000 tastings in a cultural and tasting itinerary and is visited by 2.1 million people, 20% from abroad (especially Chinese). At the end of Expo he received the Class Expo Pavilion Heritage Awards for the best Pavilion of a Single Food Product.
After the zero edition of 2014, in 2015, to complete the range of services offered by Vinitaly, Veronafiere promotes wine2wine, the forum on the wine business, for training, information and networking of the wine supply chain.
2016
Vinitaly celebrates its first 50 years. The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella inaugurates the fiftieth edition: it is the first time in the history of the fair.
The fair, recognized as a strategic economic lever for the internationalization of Italian wine companies, enters the Plan for the extraordinary promotion of Made in Italy financed by the Ministry of Economic Development as a reference fair for the wine sector.
After 22 years, the International Wine Competition, the most selective in the world, becomes the 5 Star Wines International Award, to be awarded only to wines that reach and exceed 90 cents in the judgment expressed by commissions composed of international experts specialized in the geographical area of origin of the wines. The Wine without Walls Award is also created, dedicated to wines without added sulphites or added, but with a total quantity not exceeding 40 mg/l.
Vinitaly International for the first time in Canada, at the Vancouver International Wine Festival, the main wine and food event in the North American country.
The 2013 agreement between Vinitaly and the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB) has been renewed, to coordinate the dates of their respective events for four years. For the Verona Wine Exhibition: 9-12 April 2017; 15 – 18 April 2018; 7 – 10 April 2019; 19 – 22 April 2020.
Veronafiere becomes a joint-stock company and has an investment plan of 94 million euros until 2020, which includes, among other things: the consolidation of existing exhibitions and international leadership in the wine & food supply chain; services dedicated to the internationalization of companies with priority, in the wine & food sector, to China and the USA; Digital innovation in processes and in the management of relationships with customers and the market (digital transformation).
2017
Organized by Sol&Agrifood, the EVOO Days are held, the first forum for training and the creation of a network of knowledge and relationships in the extra virgin olive oil supply chain.
5 Star Wines goes beyond the concept of an award and becomes 5 Star Wines The Book, a guide to wines from around the world that have achieved a score of at least 90 cents. The only fair in the world to offer such a product, which becomes a marketing tool, Vinitaly makes use of tasting commissions made up of international experts. The guide also includes the Wine without Walls section.
