MATTEO FARSURA, Global Exhibition Manager – Jewellery & Fashion, Italian Exhibition Group (IEG), has been at the helm as Vicenzaoro enters a new phase — with T.Gold moving into the main venue, a new Hall 2, and a more selective approach to exhibitors even as the show expands. In this conversation, he discusses India’s growing place in IEG’s plans, and what an India-EU trade deal could mean for Indian exhibitors at Vicenzaoro.
Solitaire International caught up with Matteo Farsura, who has steered Vicenzaoro through this transition.
Vicenzaoro September 2026 opened on the 4th with a floor that’s almost entirely sold out, a brand-new central hall and a first for the show: T.Gold, the parallel exhibition for jewellery-making technology, was staged inside the Vicenza Expo Centre grounds instead of running as a separate event nearby. The new hall, known as Hall 2, adds 23,000 sq m to the venue and concludes a redevelopment that IEG first announced in 2024, one it carried through four editions without a single disruption to exhibitors or buyers along the way.
The timing lines up with another milestone. CIBJO, the International Jewellery Confederation, had chosen Vicenza to host its Centenary Congress this year, marking its 100th anniversary, putting the city at the centre of the industry’s global conversation for a stretch of September.
On the reasoning behind the expansion, and pulling T.Gold inside the main venue
“We’re very proud to open this whole new space in September, right on schedule,” Farsura said. “We went through two years, four editions, of Vicenzaoro without a single inconvenience for buyers or exhibitors. Now we have opened the doors of this new pavilion at the centre of the venue. It puts the whole supply chain on display and lets us fully integrate T.Gold for the first time.
“Our aim is for the platform to reflect exactly what buyers need. Today’s buyers want a place where they can find a huge variety of products from different countries, and every part of the supply chain in one place, from technology to manufacturing to the finished brand. That was the first objective we had with this project.”
On the long waiting list of companies wanting into the show
Vicenzaoro currently hosts 1,300 exhibitors from 40 countries, and Farsura made clear IEG has no plans to simply let more in to clear the backlog: “For us, quality matters more than quantity. We select the best exhibitors for each segment of the supply chain, to make sure they bring real value to the show. With this new hall, we finally have the room to highlight international exhibitors properly. In the past we were 60% Italian and 40% foreign. Now we are almost 50/50. That’s the mix that attracts the big retailers, wholesalers and chain stores we want here.”
The show organisers named India among the leading non-European exhibiting countries this year, alongside Turkey, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United States.
On Vicenzaoro’s strategic position in the international jewellery calendar
“We feel Vicenzaoro is genuinely strategic for the European market right now, but we didn’t build that positioning by ourselves,” Farsura said. “GJEPC has been a strong, long-term partner of IEG and Vicenzaoro, and its exhibitors have done a lot to shape how the show is positioned this year.
“We think about it as three pillars: the offer itself, the opportunity to grow the network, and the chance to share knowledge about where the industry is heading. Those three pillars are what will help us grow as a strategic platform for the industry.”
On knowledge sharing between Indian and Italian companies, and what the CIBJO Congress signals
Farsura pointed to CIBJO’s decision to bring its Centenary Congress to Vicenza as proof the show has become the industry’s meeting point of choice: “This confirms that Vicenzaoro, right now, is the right platform for sharing knowledge and shaping the future of our industry. Every day we have panel discussions organised by our partners, where people discuss the priorities of each segment of the supply chain: the future of retailers, the next generation of buyers, innovation happening earlier in the chain. That’s the secret of Vicenzaoro. We’re like a home for international partners. They bring their latest innovations and the questions they’re wrestling with, and together we try to work out where the industry is headed.”
On the India-EU free trade agreement, expected to be signed by December, and what it means for Indian exhibitors
“The relationship between India and Italy is very close. We share the same values, and we know that jewellery from India comes from the heart. Indian manufacturing matters a great deal to us, and it sits very close to Italian jewellery manufacturing.
“We want to keep giving GJEPC the opportunity to highlight the value of Indian producers, and we’re always open to discussing how we can improve and give more visibility to this important part of what Vicenzaoro offers.”
On possible future joint collaborations with GJEPC
IEG’s jewellery calendar already runs across three shows in Italy (Vicenzaoro in January, September, and Oroarezzo in May) plus two events abroad, in Dubai and Singapore. Farsura stated: “Our approach is always to stay close to the market and understand what it needs. If the market needs a platform, perhaps in collaboration with GJEPC, we are certainly ready to evaluate that development because we want to serve the international market.”
His message to Indian exporters
Asked for one message to every Indian exporter watching from home, Farsura kept it simple: “Come and visit our show. Feel this place like home, and share your ideas with us. We’re ready to welcome all of them, and to bring them all over the world through Vicenzaoro.”
The one thing worth watching
With T.Gold integrated into the main venue, visitors can move more seamlessly from the machinery and technology shaping production to the manufacturers and brands using them. For Indian companies, many of whom sit on both the manufacturing and technology-buying sides of that chain, this closer connection makes the show an even more useful platform for discovering new production capabilities, partnerships and ideas.
All images courtesy Italian Exhibition Group (IEG)