From antiques and mid-century design to fine watches, jewelry, and vintage collectibles, Fiere di Parma hosts Mercanteinfiera from October 3 to 11. Reflecting growing global interest, this edition’s buyer landscape broadens with new attendees arriving from Australia, Thailand, and Canada.
Opening ceremony highlights on Saturday, October 3, include performances by multi-instrumentalists Nicola Elias Rigato and Dario Castiello. The event schedule features thematic talks spanning photography, telecommunications, fashion, fine art, and gastronomy, alongside the launch of Vintage Photo Parma on October 3 and 4. 

(Parma, September 29, 2026) – From Paris to Seoul, New York to Sydney, international collecting converges on Parma. Mercanteinfiera expects 6,000 trade buyers for its upcoming edition at Fiere di Parma, taking place from October 3 to 11. Alongside established markets such as France, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, South Korea, and Vietnam, this Autumn edition expands its global reach with new arrivals from Australia, Thailand, and Canada. This international network reaffirms the event’s core identity: not only one of Europe’s premier marketplaces for antiques, mid-century modern, historical design, vintage fashion, fine watches, jewelry, and collectibles, but also a space where objects, images, and archives continue to drive the market while storytelling the styles, tastes, and cultures of different eras.

Official Opening & Event Lineup

The official opening ceremony takes place on Saturday, October 3, at 12:00 PM in Hall 4, marked by a live performance from multi-instrumentalists Nicola Elias Rigato and Dario Castiello. This ceremony marks the launch of the Mercanteinfiera Talks series, designed to highlight the cultural history behind art, objects, and collectibles. Preceding the main fair, a special preview event “Mercante 45 x Edicola Solferino” will take place on Thursday, October 1, at 7:00 PM in Piazza XXV Aprile (Parma) in partnership with Barino and Edicola Solferino, welcoming the city with music and food.

Talks Schedule:

• Saturday, October 3
  • 3:00 PM (Hall 4, Talk Area): “The Evolution of Telecommunications” — with industry innovator Luca Tomassini (Cavaliere del Lavoro) and media historian Prof. Gabriele Balbi (Università della Svizzera italiana). Moderated by Brand Manager Ilaria Dazzi.
  • 4:30 PM (Hall 4, Talk Area): “The History of the Handkerchief” — presented by costume designer and fashion educator Camilla Ruffini.
• Sunday, October 4
  • 11:00 AM (Sala Barilla): Panel on Vernacular and Anonymous Photography — featuring Fabio Castelli (founder of MIA Photo Fair), Jean Marie Donat (collector and visual artist), Serge Plantureux (photo hunter and critic), Sergio Smerieri (founder of Gu.pho Festival), Stefano Vigni (SeiperSei publisher), and Alberto Gerosa Volonté (anthropologist/filmmaker, Thy Lab). Moderated by Michele Smargiassi (la Repubblica).
  • 3:00 PM (Hall 4, Talk Area): Book launch of “Gli Insospettabili” by journalist, curator, and art critic Mimmo Di Marzio.
• Saturday, October 10
  • 11:00 AM (Talk Area): The Art of Welleda Cantù — featuring antique dealer Tommaso Tomasi, art historian Marzio Dall’Acqua, and journalist Stefania Provinciali.
  • 2:30 PM (Talk Area): “At the Table with the Windsors: Curiosities and Secrets” — hosted by Gente Royal Editor Francesco Vicario and Royal Contributor Giovanna Gallo.
  • 3:30 PM (Talk Area): “Vintage Scarf Styling” workshop with vintage illustrator Alice Negri.

COLLATERAL EXHIBITIONS

“Sounds and Horizons: A Journey Among Unexpected Instruments,” curated by Flavio Dassenno and Luigi Blesio, gathers musical instruments from India, Tibet, Indonesia, and Myanmar, gathered over decades of travel by Brescian collector Luigi Blesio. Featuring Santal lutes adorned with anthropomorphic carvings, Burmese harps, Himalayan sarindas, and Afghan rebabs, these handcrafted artifacts have mostly vanished even in their lands of origin. While they have lost their original sound-making function, they preserve intact the craftsmanship and musical traditions far removed from Western imagery.

The line between document and artifact blurs in “A World of Menus,” curated by Maurizio Campiverdi, Franco Chiarini, Giulio Fano, Matteo Ghirighini, and Roberto Liberi for Garum – Library and Museum of Cooking & Menu Associati. The exhibition, whose catalogue won the 2025 Gourmand Awards, brings nearly 70 selected pieces to Parma from a 400-item collection: from the oldest known printed menu (1803) to a rare surviving Titanic menu, an autographed sheet dedicated by Gabriele D’Annunzio for the Fiume Cycling Bersaglieri banquet, and official wedding menus of Charles & Diana and William & Kate.

Academia Barilla also features prominently with its historical menu collection, a heritage showcasing the evolution of food culture and society across the eras. “A World of Menus” offers visitors the chance to admire some of the collection’s rarest gems in a journey through culinary history via highly significant historical documents and artifacts.

“Embroidered History: The Handkerchief in Fashion, Memory, and Etiquette,” in collaboration with Arcadia and curated by Ilaria Dazzi and Simona Palo, highlights Italian and European social history. Bridal handkerchiefs, aristocratic pieces, and items signed by World War I soldiers span three centuries—from the 18th to the 20th century. Bound to romantic rituals, codes of etiquette, and social customs, these items offer an unexpected glimpse into the history of human relationships.

“Pronto chi parla? The Evolution of Italian Public Telephony,” curated by Leonmario Moretti’s Public Telephony Museum, turns to a much more recent archeology. For decades, telephone booths were so ubiquitous in the urban landscape as to become almost invisible, before vanishing in just a few short years along with their original purpose. The exhibition restores them not merely as obsolete technology, but as an infrastructure of human connection—the medium through which generations of Italians bridged distances, maintained bonds, and held conversations that couldn’t wait.

THE DEBUT OF VINTAGE PHOTO PARMA

Photography takes center stage within the market itself this year with the launch of “Vintage Photo Parma” (October 3–4), a new section dedicated to vernacular, anonymous, and vintage photography. Curated in collaboration with Fabio Castelli, it presents works by contemporary artists who reinterpret anonymous prints through manipulation and montage, alongside a selection of vernacular imagery produced between the invention of photography and the end of the analog era.

Completing the showcase are photographs chosen for their visual and conceptual impact, spanning from the origins of the medium through the mid-20th century. The October 4 panel discussion on anonymous photography brings this exploration beyond the booths, bringing together collectors, photographers, publishers, and scholars at the same table. The autumn edition also features a special section devoted to vintage books and posters, presented in collaboration with Luca Cena.

For families, Mercanteinfiera offers a dedicated Kids Area in Hall 1, near Sala Barilla. Organized in partnership with FABA, the childcare space features the FABA Storyteller, an audio device designed to entertain young children with stories, music, and dedicated content.

“Mercanteinfiera,” states Brand Manager Ilaria Dazzi, “remains first and foremost a major international marketplace. However, it increasingly uses collecting as a lens to understand the history, taste, and culture that objects preserve beyond their financial value. It is this dual nature that drives us: on one side, the market, backed by an increasingly global buyer community; on the other, objects as witnesses of their time, reflecting how our ways of living, communicating, dressing, and connecting have evolved. The exhibitions and talks of this edition stem precisely from this vision: the opportunity to traverse different eras and artistic languages through the things we have created, used, preserved, and ultimately chosen to collect.”

GREENITALY SHARES THE STAGE

Running concurrently with Mercanteinfiera Autumn from October 7 to 9, 2026, Parma hosts Greenitaly, the International Trade Fair for Horticulture and Landscape. Far more than an industry event, Greenitaly serves as a scientific and cultural hub for greenery in all its forms, where horticultural excellence intersects with architecture, research, and outdoor living. Hosted inside the PalaVerdi venue, the fair features a botanical pathway with exhibition areas, thematic zones, and expert conferences, celebrating nature as a strategic element in shaping the future of landscape architecture. This joint presence transforms the Parma exhibition center into the autumn epicenter of international landscape design and urban renewal.

For more information: greenitaly.net

GENERAL INFORMATION

Venue: Via delle Esposizioni 393/A, Parma, Italy
Dates: October 3–11, 2026
Opening Hours: 10:00 AM – 7:00 PM (Closing Sunday at 5:00 PM)
www.mercanteinfiera.it

PRESS OFFICE

Maia PR & Comunicazione Antonella Maia | press@antonellamaia.com | 349.4757783