Almost ten thousand guests were present yesterday, in the Place Bell arena of Laval, in Montreal, at the “Festa della Repubblica” organized (for logistical reasons slightly ahead of the official date) by the Consulate General of Italy in Montreal, in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute and the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada. An event that aimed to be, and was, on the one hand, a mass, open and inclusive event for our fellow countrymen and numerous Canadian friends and lovers of Italy, and on the other hand, an unparalleled platform, in size in a single day, for the promotion of ‘made in Italy’. Numerous and prestigious Italian brands, in the food, wine, luxury and design sectors, supported the event, during which thousands of guests were offered a reception based on strictly Italian products, increasingly popular in Canada (more than 23% in our food and wine export to Canada in the first two months of this year, with Quebec being the first market in many sectors).
Framed in the exhibition #vivereallitaliana, the festival culminated with an extraordinary concert, offered to all participants, by Claudio Baglioni, for the first time guest of a celebration of the Republic Day. Before him, music artists from the Italian community of Montreal, one of the largest in the world, performed on stage, Italian ‘talents’ intervened who had established themselves in Montreal (in the artificial intelligence and virtual reality sectors, in which the Canadian metropolis is the world leader) and the Italian parliamentarians elected in North America, Senator Francesca Alderisi and the Honorable La Marca, spoke about the future of Italian communities abroad. Together with the Consul General, Marco Riccardo Rusconi, the Italian Ambassador to Ottawa, Claudio Taffuri, and the Prime Minister of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, took the floor, united in underlining the excellent relations between Italy and Quebec.
