Verona, 20 October 2026. Veronafiere is strengthening its commitment to the international development of wine tourism through a strategic partnership between Vinitaly Tourism and the Great Wine Capitals Global Network (GWC), which brings together eleven of the world's leading wine tourism destinations, including Verona, the network's only Italian member.
The agreement, announced on Sunday in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, during the network's 26th Annual Conference, taking place until 22 October, designates Great Wine Capitals as an official partner of Vinitaly Tourism. The partnership aims to generate new business opportunities through international destination promotion, the exchange of industry expertise and stronger connections among wine tourism operators and wine-producing regions.
"The partnership with Great Wine Capitals represents an important milestone in Veronafiere's strategy to develop Italy's wine tourism sector," said Federico Bricolo, President of Veronafiere, who attended the conference in New Zealand. "Through Vinitaly Tourism, we are working to increase the visibility of Italian wineries' wine tourism experiences in international travel markets and create new growth opportunities for wine businesses."
The partnership will enable Vinitaly Tourism to strengthen its engagement with leading international wine tourism destinations, facilitating the exchange of best practices in winery hospitality, visitor experience development and professional expertise to support Italian wine tourism businesses.
"International cooperation and the exchange of best practices are essential to the growth of the wine tourism sector. Collaboration among wine tourism destinations allows us not only to share experiences and approaches to visitor hospitality, but also to invest in the professional training of winery hospitality teams, helping to enhance the quality of the visitor experience," commented Paolo Arena, Vice President of Great Wine Capitals and President of the Verona Chamber of Commerce.
The eleven Great Wine Capitals are Adelaide, Bilbao-Rioja, Bordeaux, Hawke's Bay, Lausanne, Mainz-Rheinhessen, Mendoza, Porto, San Francisco-Napa Valley, Valparaíso-Casablanca Valley and Verona. Yantai (China) also participates in the network with observer status.