Businessman Francesco Berrettini, who is the new honorary consul of Italy in the Algarve, presented himself yesterday to his compatriots, to the consular body accredited in the region and to the authorities and official entities, at a cocktail party at the Hotel Alísios, in Albufeira.
The party, which had as its stage the balcony open to the sea at that hotel above Inatel beach, in Albufeira, was hosted by Luca Spiniello, head of the consular chancellery of the Italian Embassy in Lisbon. Italian residents in the Algarve, consuls from other countries in the region, businessmen and even the president of the Algarve Tourism Region were present.
The Italian community residing in the Algarve is, according to Luca Spiniello, made up of around 400 to 450 people, of various ages and spread throughout the region. They are, for the most part, entrepreneurs linked to the world of restaurants and tourism.
Some of the best known are, for example, the businessman Marco Lorenzi, founder and one of the owners of Grupo NoSolo, or the Balzer family: Alessandro Balzer is the founder of Grupo Angel Pilot, which is mainly dedicated to the sale of jet skis and motorcycles from water, and recreational boats, among other businesses. For his part, Marco Balzer is the owner of the well-known pizzeria Bulli & Pupe, created 20 years ago in Praia da Rocha.
From the most recent wave of Italians in the Algarve, there is also Igor Campedelli, shareholder of SAD do Olhanense, an Italian businessman in the cork sector who recently decided to bet on football in the Algarve.
In fact, it was in the industry that, in the XNUMXth and XNUMXth century, some Italians in the Algarve stood out, namely in the canning industry.
The path of Francesco Berrettini, executive director of Inesting, an innovative technology marketing company based in the Algarve, but present throughout the world, is different.
Currently there are still Italian Erasmus students at the University of Algarve, but as their registration is not mandatory, «we don't know exactly how many there are», admits consul Francesco Berrettini.
According to Luca Spiniello, the presence of Erasmus students in Portugal is stronger at the Universities of Minho (Braga), Porto and Lisbon, due to links between Portuguese and Italian universities.
As for tourists, the Algarve does not receive as many as it could, mainly due to the lack of more direct flights from the Italian market to the Airport of Faro. Businessman Marco Balzer, present at the cocktail, told the Sul Informação that since the end of the Ryanair Bergamo/Milan flight-Faro, your mother, for example, when traveling to the Algarve has to go to Lisbon or Seville.
But it is tourists, especially young people, who "lose their heads when they come here on vacation", in the words of Luca Spiniello, and therefore lose documents and have other problems, big and small, that the Honorary Consulate of Italy gives more support. , in the Algarve region.
As for residents, during the year there is always the need to assist them, particularly in bureaucratic matters, and the Consulate's mission is to promote the Italian economy and culture, not only among the resident community of that country, but also among the Algarve, always in a initiative of the Institute of Italian Culture and the Italian Embassy. The Italian Film Festival, which this year has a extension in Loulé from 16th to 18th of May, is one of the strongest examples.
Francesco Berrettini, who took up his new position as Honorary Consul on April 16, says he is "always open to supporting my compatriots". And Luca Spiniello, head of the consular chancellery of the Italian Embassy in Lisbon, makes a point of stressing that the work of an Honorary Consul is "voluntary", putting it "his strength, his work, his time and sometimes even the their economic strength' at the service of their compatriots.
The Honorary Consulate of Italy in the Algarve is located in Albufeira, in the Altis Building, Rua do Índico, 2ºM (next to the old mainland). Open on Mondays from 10 am to 13 pm and from 00 pm to 14 pm. His landline telephone number is 30 15 and his email address is [email protected].
There is also a mobile phone for emergencies, connected directly to the Italian Embassy in Lisbon, which is 919523500 (available every day from 18:00 pm to 22:00 pm, and on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays throughout the night).
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