Italian Ambassador to Qatar, Guido De Sanctis, and other officials inaugurating Festival Italiano at Lulu Hypermarket-Al Gharaffa, yesterday. Pic: Baher Amin/ The Peninsula
Festival Italiano was inaugurated by Ambassador of Italy to Qatar Guido De Sanctis yesterday at Lulu Hypermarket, Al Gharrafa. The inaugural ceremony was also attended by many other dignitaries from renowned corporate business groups. The festival will continue until November 21.
Aptly titled “Festival Italiano”, this event is being hosted by Lulu Group to upkeep the team spirit and solidarity with the ongoing “Week of Italian Cuisine: The Extraordinary Italian Taste” organised by the Italian Embassy and Italian Trade Commission, and the objective was to introduce and promote the foods and food habits of Italy among the local community as well as the large cross-section of ethnic communities hailing from various countries.
Lulu Group has been organising this event in Doha as part of Lulu Food Fiesta in a big way for the first time in 2004 in association with the Italian Trade Commission, Dubai, and they continued this legacy in the subsequent years as well.
A 35 metres long Pizza was cut as part of the celebrations. Also replica of the Colosseum, Leaning Tower of Pisa and other ancient structures of Italy were created and displayed at the venue. The event was also conceptualised to accelerate the imports of agricultural produce, cheese and other Deli products, dry groceries, Italian cooking ranges, other electrical appliances, houseware from Italy to the Middle East. Lulu is always in the forefront of organising festivals that would promote agricultural produce of local as well as countries like Italy, France, Holland and Spain etc. The Management of Lulu said that complete planning for the various activities and promotions have been finalised and final touches were given to the complete event schedule.
Italian recipe contests, cooking lessons and demonstrations by leading Italian chefs, insights into various cooking styles and ingredients of Italian cuisine are some of the activities planned in the food categories.
Other attractions include special counters and kiosks promoting exciting offers on different Italian electronics and home appliances, new product launches and demonstrations, designer sunglasses from leading Italian brands, exquisite world class collections of Italian perfumes and beauty accessories, latest and trendy range of fashion wear and footwear to suit all age groups.
Mohamed Althaf, Director of Lulu Group, said: “We have been conducting Festival Italiano from the year 2004 onwards in Qatar and always strive to launch innovative promotions every year. We are indeed thankful to HE the Ambassador of Italy Mr Guido De Sanctis and his entire team, and the officials of Italian Trade Commission for their wholehearted support and we consider it our privilege to associate with them in hosting this festival. “Benvenuti”, welcome to the Italian Festival!”
Lulu Hypermarket Group owned and managed by Yusuffali MA is one the most successful and highly diversified consumer business groups in the Gulf region, having major presence in the fields of supermarkets, department stores and hypermarkets all over the GCC countries.
The Group was christened in 1966 by establishing its first venture in the UAE. The Group today stands as an epitome of professional success with its highly diversified and expanding business empire spanning the globe. Presently, the Group operates 131 shopping malls and hypermarkets. Besides, the Group owns export & re-export houses, meat processing plants, garment manufacturing units and IT training institutes etc.
