The Porto Cervo Wine & Food festival inaugurated the Costa Smeralda tourist season 2024. An event that has established itself over the years as one of the most significant ones of a destination of excellence and which celebrated its thirteenth edition yesterday afternoon with the ribbon cutting of Martina Colombari, the godmother of the event dedicated to the world of wine and food, organized by Marriott Internationalwhich manages the Hotel Cala di Volpe, the Cervo Hotel, the Pevero Golf Club on behalf of Smeralda Holding and a rich collection of bars and restaurants. This evening at the Hotel Cala di Volpe the performance of Enrico Ruggeri in the gala dinner. The Cervo conference center hosted the inauguration ceremony of PCWFF 2024 in the presence of Franco Mulasarea manager Costa Smeralda; Mario FerraroCEO of Smeralda Holding; Franco Carraropresident of Smeralda Holding e Roberto Ragneddamayor of Arzachena.
Today and tomorrow, Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th May, the tastings will also be open to the public from 3pm to 6pm. At the Cervo conference center there are approximately 60 exhibitors of wine & spirits and around 20 of food: the 2024 edition can count on historic companies with strong appeal and prestigious new entries. This year, therefore, there are over 80 exhibitors present between wine and food. The main theme of the event is: “international trade and exports”.
This year’s edition of PCWFF also features something new: they are present operators in the nautical sector, with the aim of bringing exhibitors together with nautical operators involved in the Wine & Food supply chain, so as to maximize opportunities even in a sector that has recorded considerable growth in recent years. Compared to the last edition, the presence of companies has also grown “spirits”a figure indicative of the trend of a part of the market which involves an increasingly wider and more heterogeneous audience.
“Thanks to the food and wine producers who allow the event to grow year after year, becoming a national level event, thanks to Smeralda Holding which supports all our events, both from a financial and social point of view. Our growth must not be misaligned with the development of the territory which we have the duty to help grow together with us – explained Franco Mulas -. The Sardinian food and wine movement represents only a small segment of the island’s GDP, our increasingly native vines, which adapt well to climate change, and our high quality agri-food production, are the perfect mix to meet the strong demand from the various food markets niche, who seek uniqueness and authenticity. Sardinia is an excellent representative of “made in Italy”, whose objective must be to catch up and then surpass its French cousins, who export less wine than Italy but whose revenue is much higher”.
“The Porto Cervo Wine & Food Festival was born from an intuition of Franco Mulas, then it grew and surpassed the island’s borders, becoming an important national event, with Sardinian and national exhibitors of the highest order, establishing itself as a tourist attraction that marks the start of the season in Porto Cervo and which gave an impetus to bringing forward the opening of hotels on the Costa Smeralda, increasing the content of our summer calendar of events – underlined Mario Ferraro -. In recent years the Costa Smeralda destination has grown a lot, after Covid in a much more marked way than the rest of Italy and other competing destinations in the Mediterranean, the result of work on development, enrichment and differentiation of the tourist offer, which has which has meant that today the destination caters to a much broader target than in the past and the season has been lengthened. Ten years ago in the month of June the destination was half empty and the season took place between the months of July and August, today our hotels open in April and close at the end of October, we have almost doubled the duration of the season and this event is one of the drivers of this success”.
“Thanks go to those who live on the Costa Smeralda, the most important thing is that the tourists who come here are admired by the landscape and the hotels, but they are also touched by the quality of the service that is provided by those who live in this area and who they were able to preserve it” said Franco Carraro, president of Smeralda Holding. “There thirteenth edition of the Porto Cervo Wine & Food Festival celebrates an event born as a challenge that has grown because we believed in the territory and in our producers, which is why today it is among the most interesting national initiatives – confirmed Roberto Ragnedda, mayor of Arzachena -. This is also an opportunity to sell our territory, to make people appreciate what we know how to do and what beauty we have beyond the sun and the sea, a land that we must valorise, protect and enhance also with these initiatives. For some time we have been trying to carry out the challenge of extending the season and making our guests experience a unique emotion, connected to what is beautiful about us: food and wine, nature trails, archaeological sites. Today, with sacrifices, we are achieving results that make us proud, also thanks to that teamwork that we often talk about. I am thrilled, in these 13 years our producers have managed to compete with other Italian regions and the success testifies to a story of passion and work, making our guests live a dream. For me as mayor it is a great pride.”
Today and Sunday, at the end of the tastings at the Cervo Conference Center, the festival will move again to the heart of the village of Porto Cervo. The iconic “Piazzetta” is transformed into the perfect stage for “Outside the fair” eventsa series of glamorous events open to the public and organized in collaboration with exceptional partners: today and tomorrow the appointment will be with Roby Marton Gin, which will be the protagonist of signature cocktails, accompanied by DJ sets and vibrations available to the public: entry is free, drinks cost 10 euros.
