Vicenza’s records

Vicenza is a Province of records. Statistics on the primary economic indicators, in fact, always place the Province of Vicenza in a position of excellence – a sign of its dynamic and well-structured productive and commercial context – which is strong in numbers and conscious of aspects related to quality: a protagonist on the domestic market that also has a strategic propensity for exportation. With more than 86,000 companies operating in the territory, which are capable of expressing a turnover of some 90 billion euro, Vicenza can be considered for all intents and purposes the productive heart of the Northeast, the area of Italy that has the highest concentration of enterprises. Vicenza’s entrepreneurial context is characterized by the high number of companies and especially by its strong productive diversification, which has been a strong point over the years and has allowed local entrepreneurs to easily overcome even the most difficult economic situations. From mechanics to tanning, from goldsmith production to textiles and clothing, from ceramics to wood furnishings and the agro-alimentary industry: Vicenza can boast of significant performance in all of these sectors, even holding positions of leadership on national and world markets in the goldsmith and tanning sectors.
The productive system of this province is also assisted by a considerable number of strategic support activities: advanced tertiary companies, banks and financial groups , an important trade fair, training entities, a dynamic network of services offered by institutional organizations, among which the Vicenza Chamber of Commerce and its Special Agency Vicenza Qualità Vicenza Qualità, which are committed to promoting Vicenza’s products and supporting the internationalization of
enterprises

Vicenza data

Protagonists of exportation

When it comes to exports, Vicenza is in third place among all Italian Provinces. This is an exceptional result considering that this area is located in the vicinity of Milan, the financial capital par excellence and Turin, where Fiat has its head office – one of the most important European automotive industries. It is even more important when we consider that the 11 billion 300 million euro of turnover in exports is achieved by a productive structure made up primarily of many small and medium sized enterprises, which can compete with large international groups, regardless of their reduced size, armed with their winning characteristics of flexibility, specialization, high technology and quality. The leading export markets are the countries of the European Union (52%), followed by Asian countries (14.4%) and North America (12.9%).
“Made in Vicenza” products, therefore, assert themselves on the global market, with scores of thousands of companies doing business in strategic sectors. This is demonstrated by statistics on turnover: metal processing and machine production can boast of an export turnover of some 3 billion 170 million euro, followed at a distance by the tanning industry, which approaches 1 billion 623 million euro. The gold sector has reached an export turnover of 1 billion 363 million euro and the textiles and clothing sector accounts for 1 billion 700 million euro.
In addition to these results, which are due to the particular network structure of the Vicenza’s productive context, there are cases of a real international standing, in which local companies are protagonists in sectors such as clothing, sportswear, home furnishings and industrial technology.

Industrial sectors

The home of excellence

Vicenza is among the most industrialized Provinces in Italy. The productive capacity finds expression in every sector, but arrives at levels of excellence in several sectors, which are particularly significant because of the number of enterprises, persons employed, turnover and exports. Vicenza is renowned throughout the world, for example, as the “city of gold”, because it is the location of the most important national gold producing district – a sector in which Italy is the world leader. But it is also the “city of leather”, because the most important national tanning district, another sector where the boot-shaped peninsula plays the role of protagonist, is located in the area of Vicenza, precisely in Arzignano and Chiampo. The Province’s most important sector, however, is mechanics, where thousands of companies are involved in the production of machine tools for the most disparate productive sectors, in electro mechanics, electronics and sub-supplies. The textiles and clothing, woodworking and furniture and ceramics industries are also three historically important sectors in the Vicenza’s economy, which have been able to modernize their systems over the course of the years, conquering important shares of the market both in Italy and abroad.
Alongside the “locomotive” sectors, characterized by widespread entrepreneurship, the economic context of the Vicenza’s Province can count on a whole universe of small and medium sized enterprises that work in specific productive niches, the authentic “flag bearers” of the creativity, know-how and laboriousness that has enabled this area to attain such extraordinary performance.