Contrasting opinions. A little hope. And a lot of uncertainty. The impressions that gioiellis.com has collected among the pavilions of VicenzaOro Spring have a common denominator: fewer people than usual. At least the first two days were experienced by the operators with a lot of disappointment. In the end, the official balance is 17 thousand visitors, in general. In particular, the Jewelry and Gold Fair closed with 11 thousand visitors, 40% of whom were foreigners. Origin Passion and Beliefs instead attracted 6 thousand visitors and over 700 international buyers. No one, among those contacted by gioiellis.com, wants to speak badly of the Vicenza Fair openly, «but having made it known beforehand that this will be the last edition of the May event certainly didn’t help», explains a goldsmith from the Arezzo district, who arrived here as every year with the best expectations. Given that no one wanted to give interviews with their names and surnames, most of the impressions we collected confidentially are similar: few people, few buyers. There are exceptions: “Today it’s like this, but tomorrow’s agenda is packed,” they explain at the Chimento stand. But there are those who make it political, like the representative of a well-known Vicenza brand: “It’s the result of the change at the top of the Fair: the former president has always had the May event at heart, which is very important for us,” she confides. The reference is to the new course pushed by the new president, Matteo Marzotto, who wanted to combine VicenzaOro Spring with the Origin event: a combination of jewelry, clothing and accessories under the banner of design. From what we saw with our own eyes, the idea did not attract crowds of operators: the pavilion remained desolately deserted for a long time (as can be seen in the photograph). We will have to rely on the numbers to draw a definitive balance: rather than golden business, it seemed like bronze business. Of course, impressions are random. The voices of the exhibitors, however, are not.
