Mido previews move to improved venue

Milan opened its doors to one of Europe's largest events in the optical calendar today with the 36th International Mido exhibition. It will be the last time the show will be held at its current venue.

The four-day event, which attracted 40,000 visitors last year, will take place at the Fiera Milano City from today (May 5) until Monday. A total of 1,200 exhibitors from 125 countries will be displaying their products across a floor space of over 130,000 sq m.

There will also be a preview display to showcase the new venue for next year's Mido - the Fiera Milano complex at Rho-Pero, located just outside the Malpensa airport.

Mido president Cirillo Marcolin said: 'Relocating to a new venue means a bigger, more international and more complete exhibition. The Fiera will be a driving force for commercial and economic development in Lombardy and Italy and for people arriving from other countries to promote their own business.

'The Rho-Pero exhibition complex has been designed to satisfy all the needs for functional and efficient services in a structure that can host more than one exhibition at the same time, and to offer the greatest possible comfort to organisers, exhibitors and visitors.'

An anti-counterfeiting service will be another focus of the show following last year's crackdown which saw more than 200 pieces of eyewear - from Chinese, Taiwanese and British stands - taken by police. The crackdown also saw an entire stand of a Croatian eyewear exhibitor cordoned off as part of Mido's anti-counterfeiting programme.