The first day of the fair and I've forgotten my German-English dictionary. However, these two should do nicely.There is a surge of interviewing going on, all day it seems, with camera crews racing up and down the hallways. I can't remember if the first day of the fair is always like this, or if suddenly everyone in publishing has become extremely self-important. From the Mondadori stand in the Italian section, we turn to watch as yet another crew goes tearing by with microphones extended, asking one another "Who is that? Who do you think that is?". Then, lo and behold! They come stampeding into our booth!
A table is commandeered and a reporter sits down with two subjects, and they are quickly surrounded by a swarm of cameramen. The head of Turkey's most important media company has, to everyone' surprise, decided to be interviewed here in the Mondadori booth. Our Italian staff swing into action supplying espresso and biscotti. Maybe that's why they decided to meet here, we definitely have the best food....The big news, which for the moment overshadows the various meetings and business conversations of the day, is that Mondadori Printing has been sold: the company has sold an 80% stake to Italian web offset and gravure printer Gruppo Pozzoni. All of us working with Mondadori speculate about what this can mean: some of my colleagues remark with satisfaction that they could see it coming, while others are completely taken by surprise. There are cautious expressions of optimism. Meanwhile I can't help wondering (somewhat irrelevantly) about the details, like will the Mondadori Printing Headquarters visited by so many of my clients over the years on the aptly named Via Mondadori in Verona become Pozzoni HQ -- located on a newly renamed Via POZZONI....?
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