A major renovation for Firenze Fiera: interview with the President Leonardo Bassilichi

From 26 July 2017 Firenze Fiera is led by President Leonardo Bassilichi. Born in 1971, he entered the family business in 1990, brilliantly directing the marketing area since 1992. From 2005 to 2012, as General Manager, together with his brother Marco, he undertook a radical transformation in the company, which made it leader in the Business Process Outsourcing at a national level.

In June 2012 he was appointed CEO of Bassilichi S.p.A., and from July 2017, with the entry of Bassilichi into the ICBPI group, he became President. Leonardo Bassilichi is currently also President of the Chamber of Commerce of Florence, a position he holds since 10 June 2014 and, from 14 July 2015, he is also Deputy President of Unioncamere Nazionale.

A: But the most important thing is that the estimated induced turnover in the city was 561 million euros a year. Resources that we would lose if we did not put in action the renovation of which you have rightly spoken and which consists of the real estate renovation expected for decades of a unique complex in the world and the consolidation of fairs and congresses together with the development of new activities.

Q: All the facilities that will be renovated will require a strong and capable commercial department, how do you intend to organize this aspect?

A: On the organizational level we have made the choice to look at our home and to enhance the internal skills, both because there are good professionals in the team, and because we want to consolidate their relationship with local and international players.

Q: How do you intend to continue the collaboration with the great local and international PCO and DMC?

A: The goal is to offer increasingly interesting and attractive solutions for international conferences, national and corporate events, significantly optimizing the use of space, which will have the capacity to host conferences from 500 to 5 thousand participants. In this way the great international operators and local players will be able to count on a technologically advanced, highly competitive and modeled structure according to their needs in the heart of a wonderful city like Florence.

A: An indispensable step to attract a new, more qualified and international public, thanks also to a revolutionized, green and impressive visual impact layout. As far as fashion is concerned, we are consolidating the relationship with Pitti Immagine: it is our most important customer, its link with the city will be increasingly significant and even here the goal is to involve wider worlds.

Among the new initiatives, on the other hand, the fair on the collections of household linen, furnishing and nautical textiles is back in Florence. The first edition of the event, called TexStyle, was from 2 to 4 February at the Cavaniglia pavilion of the Fortezza da Basso and has filled a piece left empty in recent years in the Italian exhibition, that is an event entirely dedicated to the excellence of the planet textile.

Q: From what we are told, Firenze Fiera is emerging as the leader of a Florentine revolution. Do you have any particular wishes and some request for the city?

A: First of all, more than Florence we will have to consider Tuscany as a minimum geography for our action … and then I would like the Fortezza da Basso to be seen not only as a place for fairs and congresses, but also for living. This is why in some periods of the year our facilities will be at the service of the city to welcome local events and rediscover the monumental part of the neighborhood.