Marmomacc 2003

August 5, 2003

VERONA, Italy – If you’re planning to exhibit at this year’s Marmomacc here in October, you’re out of luck.
Space for the 38th edition of the International Natural Stone and Technologies Exhibition on Oct. 2-5 at the Verona Exhibition Centre is all booked up, according to event organizers. And, the waiting list to take cancellations now numbers more than 50 companies.
There’s still plenty of time to go to Marmomacc as an attendee, however, and see one the largest international exhibitions devoted exclusively to the stone industry.
Last year’s event brought 1,336 vendors to the nine halls and large outdoor stone yard, with a total exhibition area of more than 60,000m²/645,800ft². While the majority are Italian firms (61.7 percent), the rest of the exhibitors hail from more than 50 countries – although relatively few are based in the United States.
While Verona’s fame comes from the quarrying of stone through several millennia, the event is more than blocks and slabs. While there’s plenty of stone to see indoors and outdoors, more than five halls at Verona are devoted to production machinery, from hand-held tools to large CNC units.
Marmomacc is no small event when it comes to attendees. More than 57,000 attendees wandered the halls and grounds at Verona last year, and any U.S.-based visitor will encounter fellow members of the stone trade from more than 110 other countries.
Marmomacc is also the home of the International Stone Architecture Awards; the eighth edition of the biennial competition will be presented at the event, honouring
• Suransuns Bridge over the River Viamala, Chur, Switzerland
• Pariser Platz 3 / DG Bank, Berlin;
• The Presidential Palace, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain;
• Residential and office complex in Walter Benjamin Platz, Berlin;
• Vulcania – European Volcano Park. (St. Ours-Les-Roches, Chermont-Ferrand, France; and
• New courtyard area, Bottari block, Siracusa, Italy.
Outside the event, Verona provides plenty of opportunities to catch up on your culture, centered by the Arena – a stone amphitheatre built to hold 30,000 spectators in the first century A.D. There’s also the kitsch culture surrounding Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare placed his drama here – as well as other historical sites. Four excellent walking tours are mapped at www.comune.verona.it/turismo/Passeggiando/inglese.htm.
There’s no central clearinghouse for lodging accessible via the Web; CAV/Cooperativa Albergatori Veronesi can assist with housing at info@cav.vr.it, or by FAX at +39-045-8009372. It’s also worth checking event organizer VeronaFiere’s Website at www.veronafiere.it for lodging links.