About the Italian Wine & Food Institute
The Italian Wine & Food Institute, headquartered in New York, is a non-profit organization, founded in 1983 for the enhancement of the image and prestige of Italian wines, gastronomy and food products in the USA.
To this end the Institute organizes educational and promotional events and carries out public relations activities to educate the American consumers about the high quality of Italian wines, food products and gastronomy.
The promotional activities of the Institute consist in a series of initiatives directed at the professional media, the operators in the specific sectors, at every level of distribution, the opinion leaders and the most qualified American consumers.
The promotional activities of the Institute comprise seminars and tastings; it provides detailed information on the Italian gastronomy and wines; it distributes information materials and gives press interviews for the American radio and television; it carries out an intense public relations program; it participates in the most important local promotional initiatives and events; it maintains contact with the American and Italian authorities in this sector; it carries out market research and surveys and publishes a bimonthly newsletter, "Notiziario" about the American market.
The Institute has also organized, in the decade 1985-1994, the Gala Italia Dinner & Awards Presentation. This was the most elegant, prestigious and much awaited for promotional event for Italian wines and gastronomy, fashion, music and the arts in the USA.
The Institute started also a series of initiatives based on seminars and tastings, among them the Italian Wine and Food Gala and theme seminars, in order to emphasize Italian wines, food products and gastronomy.
The Institute has in addition published a book on Italian cuisine and booklets on Italian wines and food products such as "Discovering Italian Wines" and "Gala Italia" with the goal to educate the American consumers. The Institute publishes, moreover, detailed information on its various initiatives on its Web Page.
The President of the Institute, Dr. Lucio Caputo, has been active in the promotion of Italian wines and gastronomy for over twenty years, first in his position as Italian Trade Commissioner, and later as the President of the Italian Wine & Food Institute, of the European Wine Council, of the International Trade Center and of the Italian Representative Group--G.E.I--and as US representative of the Verona Fair Authority.
Among recent events was the second edition of the International Organic Wine Expo held in New York in May under the Patronage of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and under the auspices of the Consul General of Italy in New York, and jointly organized by the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce West and the Italian Wine & Food Institute.
