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A brief catchup from Italy as we are a quarter of the way into the year. We have been busy on projects solely in Italy so far this year which is great news after 10 years of trying to build the brand here. We are still, however sourcing suppliers for clients in Bali, the UK and Switzerland as I write.
We have been in Venice for Eventful Management as part of their build team and using our local knowledge to help their production client source items locally. For those who have worked there you will know its challenges, but with planning, a lot of local crew and sadly a lot of cash, it is possible to work there. Pack your walking boots though for the many miles of lanes and be prepared for weather delays and logistical interruptions. When I was there, I was speaking to the boatyard manager who says that bad weather is common there and high tides make it even more impossible to deliver kit on time for events in their large barges, but weather is obviously out of their control. Its worth noting for anyone planning events there to allow extra build time, venue permitting.
We have been in Florence building an exhibition stand on behalf of Eventful Management in February. A lovely venue, the Florence fiera at the heart of the city by the railway station. A very friendly in house team from production to the department teams. They also have other venues in their group including the castle venue which is great for a VIP dinner.
The load in at the fiera is a bit of a nightmare and any tight delivery schedules you may imagine, will need to be flexible due to the small entrance ways to the venue and it is on a ramp, which on a slippery wet day, can be eventful. A lovely stand though and my team built the stand in the day allowed and returned to take it down and send it back to Germany.
We have been in Rome for a few site visits for clients and also for one project which was a graphic installation for BD.com. We were asked to look at the graphic supply and install and de rig and it was a pleasure to work for a very friendly client who were very appreciative of our teams work. It can be a great leap of faith for new clients to jump in with strange suppliers in a foreign country so we are always very grateful and aware that we need to be on our game as we know there are many choices for clients obviously to go elsewhere.
We are currently costing projects for Rome in May and September, Milan in August, Switzerland in August and Bali in April so although we have lots of costings we are always happiest when we have moved onto the planning and production stage. The summer here in Italy is always the busiest time for suppliers and people so if you are planning anything of any size it is very wise to book early to avoid massive price hikes.
We get asked a lot about visiting for work in Italy. If you are a non EU citizen you can enter Italy for 8 days without any documentation to attend or work on an event providing you are within your own personal 90 in 180 day allocation. Within that 8 days if you are intending on staying longer for work you should notify the local Questura of your intentions and you are able to stay up to 90 days, again depending on your personal day quota. There is a handy link here for you to fill in and make sure you are within the correct category for visa or non visa. Please also bear in mind that there are other documents you will need like an A1 , insurance docs etc so please check your personal country requirements for Italy.
If we can be of help at any time for anything large or small in relation to getting a project over the line in Italy, we are always happy to help. richard@penhaligonec.com.
It is also worth noting if you would like to look at further details for visas and work permits throughout Europe, have a look at this link from Ukeartswork that has covered European stiplulations for non EU citizens working in Europe.
Pictures : Richard Penhaligon
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