Marmomac, held Sept. 25-29 in Verona, Italy, reported another year of growth on all fronts for its 52nd edition.

"We're talking about 1,650 companies (64% international from 56 countries) attracting 68,000 operators from 147 countries,” said Maurizio Danese, president of Veronafiere. “This edition also achieved the objective of expanding business for natural stone companies that concluded important contracts and signed orders for materials and technologies alike."

Giovanni Mantovani, CEO and director general of Veronafiere, added, “Once again, attendance by international operators came to than 60% of total, thereby reflecting the evolution of international markets and confirming Marmomac as a global platform for trade and promotion of the entire natural stone value chain. In particular, there was growing interest among African countries, as well as even more buyers from North and South America and consolidated attendance from Europe. At the same time, growth was seen for Asia, with China and India, followed by Russia, where the market is recovering at last. Turkey and Iran [also posted] significant improvements. There was also good attendance from the domestic market, especially from central-southern Italy. Our objective now is to project the Marmomac brand energetically abroad and we have already signed several system agreements in Italy and China this year. The next appointment is scheduled in Miami in mid-October for Archmarathon and meetings with 50 studios of architecture from across the entire American continent to expand the network of the event even further."

Marmomac 2017 welcomed several new initiatives: from the signing of the new partnership in China with Qingdao Fair, to the letter of intent signed with IMM-Carrarafiere for the joint promotion abroad of respective stone districts and the announcement of the strengthening of marble and construction events in South America managed by Veronafiere do Brasil.

There were also many official institutional visits, including those by the Indian business delegation led by the Indian Ambassador to Italy, Reenat Sandhu, and the Brazilian group accompanied by the Governor of Espírito Santo State, Paulo Hartung.

The Italian Stone Theatre, a pavilion developed with the Ministry for Economic Development MISE, ICE-Agency, and Confindustria Marmomacchine, highlighted the interaction between natural stone, design experimentation, and technology, while the International Stone Summit, the main stone associations worldwide focused on future developments in the sector.

The Marmomac Night gala evening hosted the consignment of the Best Communicator Award and Masters of Stone insignia, as well as the Icon Award. The 12 installations of natural stone making up the “Marmomacc & the City” exhibition in the squares of the historic centre of Verona will remain on display through October.

The 53rd edition of Marmomac is scheduled at VeronaFiere for Sept. 26-29, 2018.

For more information, visit www.veronafiere.it.