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DEC. JAN. 2019 V and so much more. We are recreating a exhibition route with stands and pavilions dedicated to each sector. Among the guests, also 12 important chefs. What will they do? Involving the most prestigious chefs is a way to give an extra value to the food and wine production of our territory, but also to many Italian excellences. They will alternate in a show cooking relay with the aim of entertaining and impressing customers with their recipes in all their variations. And speaking of grabbing everyone’s attention, for all three days of the event we will have an exceptional presence, one of the most loved characters of the Italian public, Chef Alessandro Borghese. It will be rewarding and exciting for our customers to be able to shake hands or maybe take a selfie. We look forward to seeing you! AT PAGE 14 THE BOTTOM LINE Bad weather: it is now the norm Climate change has led to an increase in extreme events in Italy: catering suffers, for damage to premises and loss of turnover. What can be done? Programming, communicating, discussion with institutions. By Anna Muzio Whirlwinds (38 in November, up 138 percent on the same period last year) cloudbursts, torrential rain, landslides but also flooding, blackouts, disrupted roads and connections. The news of this autumn – 2018 is starting to be recorded as the hottest year for two centuries – reads like a war bulletin. 14 million trees were felled in Trentino, Veneto and Friuli (it will take at least a century to return to normal), the pearl of luxury tourism, Portofino, isolated for a month and 200 yachts destroyed (some thrown onto the seafront) in Rapallo by the “mother of all storms” in a Liguria already tried by the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa this summer. But also Southern Italy has paid a high price, from Puglia to Sicily, with victims and huge damage to crops. In such situations also hospitality, and catering, can only suffer. Doubly: due to damage suffered directly to the facilities, but also due to lost revenue due to absent clientele. LIGURIA: “IT’S A SERIOUS SITUATION BUT WE ARE ACCUSTOMED TO THE CHALLENGES.” From Veneto to Sicily, the month of October in particular brought much of Italy to its knees, due to a series of extreme weather events that caused serious consequences for the population, the environment and the territory. The case of Liguria is symbolic. “The situation is heavy and comes after the inconvenience caused by the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa. I have seen an capacity for immediate reaction but we have to do everything quickly because the longer you wait the more you pay: EUR 400 million in damage to businesses has been calculated to date due to absence of the bridge – says Alessandro Cavo , President of Fipe Liguria. We need speed and build a more beautiful Liguria than before, with its historic places, such as the Covo di Nord Est of Santa Margherita, swept away by the storm. But we in Liguria have been forged by difficulties and we will make it.” There is also another, more constant problem: “Weather alerts are fundamental and allow the population, but also operators, to implement preventive measures such as placing water barriers. However, in a region with an older population like Liguria these alerts lead to a drastic drop in attendance in restaurants often forced to close. People stay at home. For this reason, we ask that compensation systems are established during the alerts with the suspension of some types of taxation, such as the waste tax and that of land occupation.” VENETO: BETWEEN LAND AND SEA… LOOKING TOWARDS THE SUMMER “Fortunately, it happened in close season this year but the rivers in flood brought logs and trees that we had to remove and clean the beaches: just the urgent operations cost 10 million euros – explains Angelo Faloppa , president of Confcommercio, Jesolo and San Donà. Bad weather is the norm: the problem is that you can’t get out of the emergency and make a serious programming with structural interventions – like breakwaters at sea along the coast not yet equipped to avoid erosion of the beaches due to the storm-winds and the constant cleaning of the riverbed.” An even more serious situation in the mountains, with the aggravation of the ski season around the corner: “We had blackouts for days and isolated areas, without electricity, water, gas and telephone connections with damaged roads – says Luca Dal Poz , director Confcommercio Belluno. The wonderful thing is, we’re ready. We have jumped through hoops with a perfect synergy between public, private and volunteers. We wait for the snow: slopes and sports facilities are accessible, but the greatest difficulty is environmental damage. We are already thinking about summer, it will be necessary to make the woods and walks accessible”. Another big problem that concerns the telephone and internet isolation of some mountain shelters: “if you are not connected you do not exist: if you are isolated you cannot even receive