Viva Italia exhibition opens amidst fanfare

Italian products celebrated by cinema stars and politicians at Holt Renfrew's flagship store

A booming applause and a great many three-coloured flags were part of the welcome that the staff of Holt Renfrew gave to their chairman, Galen Weston, Italy's Minister of Trade Adolfo Urso, company president Andrew Jennings, and Italian Trade Commissioner Beniamino Quintieri. The four had entered the Bloor Street West store last Thursday for the official launch of Viva Italia.
Every wall displayed the images that gave fame to Italy: Dino Zoff raising the World Cup in Spain in that unforgettable 1982 game; tennis great Nicola Pietrangeli; and then Pietro Mennea, Sara Simeoni, Fausto Coppi, and especially Sophia Loren, still today the embodiment of Italian beauty and spontaneity.
Viva Italia is for Holt Renfrew "the biggest promotional event ever held in the 165 years of history of our company," Jennings proudly underscored.
"Rome was not built in a day," he continued, "and neither was this initiative. We've been working at it for the past two years, together with the representatives of the Italian government, in order to give our clientele the very best; no fewer than 75 new brands debut today on our shelves, coming from all corners of Italy where quality is a familiar concept."
With a smile and a few words in broken, but pleasant Italian, he then introduced Galen Weston, whom many deem Canada's most powerful man and clearly one of the main businessmen involved in trade with Italy. The George Weston Group, in fact, includes the most important food distribution chains, Holt Renfrew itself, as well or the Fortnum and Mason department stores in London.
A veritable ambassador of Italian goods?
"Not exactly an ambassador, but I feel somewhat Italian, since my wife [former Ontario Lieutenant Governor Hillary] is half Italian herself", he replied.
Then came the turn of Italy's Minister of Foreign Trade Adolfo Urso, speaking in Italian. There was an interpreter but many members of the staff did not need him; they were Italian-Canadians, and they have not forgotten the language.
"Today is September 12," said Urso, "the 'day after'. One year ago many of our habits changed, many fears were raised, and the taste of living the good life cooled down somewhat. Today we must win that joy of living back, and an event such as Viva Italia means exactly this."
"For all of us, being here is an honour and a pleasure, as is seeing the large Italian community, who came here in less than fortunate conditions, succeeded and conquered prestigious positions in economy, politics and culture. This community," concluded minister Urso, "is nowadays an active channel of trade between Italy and Canada."
Urso was then showed the various departments of the store. The guides were the managers and salespeople, often presenting their products and their own Italian heritage with uncommon pride, underscoring how big names and lesser known brands all share a care for detail and a quality of workmanship that can be felt by touching.
In a corner was installed a retrospective about Moschino and his fanciful creations such as a dress made with 15 brassieres or another literally covered with earrings. Immediately beyond comes the new Armani boutique, sober and at the same time unmistakable.
On the opposite side there was a puppet theatre, with a stage and marionettes that arrived from Milan to perform in a series of shows and entertain the customers.
The shoe department hosted an exhibition of Ferragamo creations, which was being presented abroad for the first time. It included unique models illustrating the history of Italian design. Not far from there were the bags by Furla and Prada. On the lower floor we found a series of glasses created on purpose for this event; they displayed the words acqua, latte, succo, nouns that did not belong to the English vocabulary but have now become commonplace, another victory of Italian style.
"This is a great promotional success for the Italian system," remarked ICE president Beniamino Quintieri, "that can see at last its products enter the big distribution chains."

Publication Date: 2002-09-22
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=1781