In Verona, the high mass of Bacchus comes to titillate French wines

“The Young Bacchus” by Guido Reni, one of the jewels of the Pitti Museum in Florence, was exhibited at the Vinitaly fair in Verona (Veneto) from April 2 to 5, 2023. ALBERT TERCERO FOR M LE MAGAZINE DU MONDE

The pavilion is located near the entrance to the fair, but one does not enter it like a mill. Once at the security checks, we have to wait a few minutes next to a clump of tricolor flowers, until the space is freed up and a rifleman allows us to enter a large room plunged into darkness, where two absolute masterpieces of the history of painting are enthroned, placed under the vigilant guard of half a dozen men in uniform: on the left, The Young Bacchus by Guido Reni, one of the jewels of the Pitti Museum , in Florence, and on the right, Caravaggio’s Bacchus, kept in the same city but on the other bank of the Arno, in the Uffizi gallery.

Announced with a bang by the organizers of the 55th edition of the Vinitaly show, which was held in Verona (Veneto) from April 2 to 5, the arrival of these two guests of honor, financed by the insurer Generali, is not It did not go without causing some gnashing of teeth, but the Italian government, usually more cautious, supported the idea with enthusiasm.

After all, nothing less was needed to support the campaign for the inscription of Italian cuisine on the UNESCO World Heritage List and to celebrate the return of the general public after the restrictions linked to the pandemic. And then how better to emphasize that wine, in Italy, has always been an established cultural fact?

High entrance fees

Mobilize the country’s heritage to ensure the commercial influence of its wine sector… While successive governments in the 2010s have constantly sought to rely on Italy’s cultural riches to make them engines of growth, going so far as to combine culture and tourism in the same ministry during the Renzi years, until then no one had gone so far. Faced with criticism from associations for the defense of heritage, the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida – pillar of Fratelli d’Italia (extreme right) – claimed without qualms the paternity of this idea: “It is a something that attracts, that brings together wine and culture, while telling what is inside a product, wine. »

In other words: what is good for Italian wine is good for Italy and there is no harm in the fact that priceless masterpieces are employed to increase the prestige of Vinitaly, which proudly claims the status of “the largest event dedicated to wine in the world”.

The “biggest”, really? Admittedly, the 2023 edition can boast of having brought together more than 93,000 visitors, while the two heavyweights in the sector, WineParis & Vinexpo, Porte de Versailles, and ProWein, in Düsseldorf, only welcomed 35,000 in 40,000 in February and March. But the Verona show, unlike its competitors, is not an event reserved for professionals, which makes the figures difficult to compare. And, even if Vinitaly is a place for meetings and professional exchanges, it is above all a popular festival, despite the very high price of entries (the basic price was 120 euros for one day).

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