Messe Bozen

Today's programme of the Bolzano Fair includes 10 annual and biennial exhibitions and 3 showrooms: "Mode & Country Collection", devoted to the purchasing of fashion and country fashion items, "Shoe Collection", devoted to the purchasing and presentation of spring/summer and autumn/winter shoe collections, and "Sport Mode Collection", devoted to the purchasing of sports fashion clothing and equipment. Together, the events attract more than 200,000 visitors.

The exhibitions which most arouse the interest of the general public and of professionals are: "Hotel" (once "Bolzano Hotel"), which inaugurated activities at the new site of the Fair in Bolzano South on 23rd March 1998, "Agrialp" (formerly "Fiera Agricola dell'Arco Alpino" or "Alpine agricultural trade show"), "Tempo Libero", "Arredo", "Bauschau/Lignomec", "Alpitec" and the "International Autumn Fair". This event has reached its 53rd edition and performs a decisive and stimulating role in various economic sectors - first of all in that of handicraft - not only at local level but also in other countries.

As far as the "new-born" events of the Fair are concerned, "Alpitec", a specialised fair for mountain and winter technologies, hosted in 1999 169 exhibitors (92 of them coming from abroad) and was visited by 6,000 operators who made it a great success while "Interpoma", European trade show for apple growing, storage and marketing, exceeded also in 2000 all expectations and counted 6,000 professional visitors of whom 20% came from abroad. The event saw the participation of 170 exhibitors.

The Bolzano Exhibition Center's strategies are concentrated on the study and development of events referred to as being "niche", touching the areas in which the Alto-Adige region has its competences and international recognition. Fruit growing and alpine technology are examples of this. The events calendar for 2001 is in line with this strategy: the objective of "Prowinter", the first fair in Europe dedica