Asking Gabriele Brustenghi to speak about the Festival del Fitness is like asking him to speak about his children. The care, the passion, the affection – even choosing the right words is difficult for him when speaking about his special creation.  And after a summer of hard-earned relaxation away in Miami Beach, Brustenghi is refreshed and ready for the 19th edition of the Festival, which will take place in May 2007.  The Festival will take place once again in the beloved city of Florence, where last year’s fears were turned into magical miracles within the ancient walls of the old fortress.

“We here at Progetti had goosebumps for the entire 5 days of the Festival del Fitness! We felt constant shutters of excitement and emotion (seeing how many people arrived just for opening day on May 24th!) throughout our bodies – from the top of our heads to the tips of our toes! Especially because, for the 6 months leading up to the Festival and in making the decision to move to Florence, we were in a constant state of sleeplessness....”

Why? Was it fear? Thinking too much?
”There were millions of different fears that we were experiencing. Some of them were our own, others from outside pressures, but most of them cause for sleepless or restless nights. And all of this was amplified when we heard about the creation of another festival attempting to follow our same formula, and which we noted had terrifying PR and the seeming advantage of having the same location where the Festival had been held for the past 17 years! Then another similar event was announced in Milan, then in Naples, then in Bergamo.... It was as if our choice to move the Festival to Florence made it then vulnerable to attacks and attempts to make it fall from its position as world leader.

And so, how then were you able to survive these attacks?
“We comforted each other -- taking turns supporting the most anxious of the group – by reminding ourselves that we had constructed the best program in our history.  Then, all of the fitness world came to our defense and support, which helped remind us of our solid relationship with the over-6,000 gyms in Italy. And we realized that the fitness world was with us, with members from the largest fitness chains in the world – from Virgin Active, to Crunch to 24 Hours Fitness – just as the city of Florence was standing by us with all its social and economic support under the direction of our passionate friend, Sports Councilman Eugenio Giani who offered us assistance from city entities like the Civil Protection units. Florentine restaurants and hotels lowered their costs for the event, and the Fortezza d Basso fortress...in all its splendor and emotion...with those powerful walls awaiting to give its visitors the chance to climb up in a modern “attack”...”

And this “attack” idea was a success as well...
“I never had any doubt about that. Just as we were sure that the idea of moving the Festival into five of the main Florence squares would also be a success. And here I would also like to thank Trenitalia (the Italian train system) who supported and assisted us throughout the organization, along with the Italian Departments of Motor Sciences with over 30,000 students, 30 “Decathlon” stores, over 300 McDonald’s restaurants, the CTS Association of Young Entrepreneurs, the 60 radio stations who gave us coverage with over 7,000 ads...”

And we saw that the city of Florence was practically invaded by the media in Florence...
“Here I could just cite some names without even commenting too much, they speak for themselves. Each of them showed their support and enthusiastic conviction: Cosmopolitan, Grazia magazine, Men’s Health, Star Bene, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Leggo, Runner’s World, Correre magazine, Cioè, Ragazza Moderna, Y18, XL by Repubblica newspaper and more than 20 other publications. Here obviously a great role was performed by our website (www.fitfestival.com) which registered over 10 million accesses and which worked perfectly with reports on real time events inside and outside of the Fortezza da Basso fortress.

In the same theme of the grand “attack” on the Festival which you were speaking about before...important companies decided to stay with you and followed you over to the Fortress, correct?
 “Absolutely. The support and collaboration brought to us by some of the most prestigious national and international companies helped us feel calmer. Partly because we were confident that we had worked well with these companies for the past 17 years, and partly because companies like Peugeot, Nivea, Coop, Technogym, Freddy, Reebok, Everlast, American Express, Indesit, Enervit, Sammontana, Lottomatica and Herbalife only take part in events which they deem to have a solid reputation.”

And Progetti has always been very loyal to them…
”We thought: they have been with us for 17 years. They have become our friends for 17 years and we have always kept up our promises to them in return. This apparently was true for those companies, as well as for the people who came to the Festival and made their way over from the Santa Maria Novella train station to the Fortress...”

I’m sure you’ve been asked this a thousand times, but how many people were there?
”Yes, and I have answered it a thousand times! Lots of people: everyone!!! We are a little tired of this embarassing habit – mainly pushed by Italian organizers (of everything from concerts to public protests) – of wanting to know the exact number of people who took part. And so, for anyone who asks us how many people were there, our answer remains “Lots of people: everyone!”  And if that’s not enough of an answer, they can find out by speaking with anyone who was with us at the Festival – we received so many – inumerable – thank-yous, compliments and appreciation that we were moved to tears.”

How would you describe the Festival to a marketing expert?
”I would prefer that others do that talking! For example, Nivea, who distributed 1,850,000 product samples during the Festival. Or Carlo Freddi (of Freddy), Alessandro Bastagli (Everlast), Sergio Esposito (Reebok), Domenico Brisigotti (Coop), Sergio Perego and Monica Soldini (Peugeot), Marco Ribacchi (Sammontana), Luca Bon (Mc Donald’s), Ercole Giammarco (Mondadori)…”.
 
Great. And if we were to describe the Festival to the gym world – who are always up for new information and novelties?!
”Here, I will name some of the best instructors and personal trainers in the world, and I hope I won’t forget anyone!:  Paolo Evangelista, Alex Viligiardi, Alfredo Venturi, Francesco Sivieri, Guillermo Vega, Stefania Semeraro, i Les Mills, Billy Goodson, Dorman, Ary Marquez, Guigermo, Marc Santamaria, Jeannet Jeinkins, Boris Bazzani, Max Grossi, Erika Moretti, Alexis Olivares, Phil Gray, Keli Roberts, Laura Rapuzzi, Gennaro Setola, Daria Illy, Lawrence Biscontini, Eugenio Maffei, Gil Lopes, Achille Caroti, Giulio Evangelista, Gabriela Girardi, Lolita San Miguel, Toon Vogt, Max Imperioli, Omid Ighani Kris, Byron, Maria Ragazzo, Bruce Ikanjj,  and the other, more than 300, splendid stars of the Festival.”

Speaking of personal trainers, even Gunnar Peterson was in awe of the Festival. And he happens to be number one in his field in America…
”Gunnar was with us for three days and he was literally overwhelmed! When a Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper journalist asked him about the Festival, his reply was “the biggest and most impressive fitness event in the world! Impossible to describe it.” And just think of how many people Gunnar will talk about the Festival to back in the U.S….”

On the subject of Florence, we noticed that there was a high percentage of Florentines themselves. This seems to indicate that they recognized the Festival as an event not to be missed…
”Exactly. People came from all over Italy and from the world, but the Florentines welcomed them with open arms – so much so that many bars and restaurants within the Fortress were open way into the late evening for them to socialize and have a good time...”.

Shall we say a word or two about the imitation Festivals in Rimini, Milan, Naples...?
”I would simply say to them: let it go, it’s not your arena of expertise. You know how to organize trade shows and you know how to do that well. It’s as if the owner of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, at the news that Elton John was moving his show to Atlantic City, were to respond: “No problem, I’ll just sing.”  It would be a surefire embarassment, as sure as the thrown tomatoes from the front rows!  And I have to confirm this thought with proof from something I just read: “depressing, sad, pathetic, poor in content, without energy or imagination, without emotion...a regional trade show...” Need I say more?”

And now onward with the 2007 edition…
”Well, “now” is a euphemism, considering we’ve been working on our next edition for 3 months already! It will be held in May 2007, and we already feel confident when we say it will be our greatest edition ever. Also because this year we will get to work without that fear and therefore our energy will be spent on more important undertakings, not simply on defending the identity of the Festival.  Our sole aim is to construct an extraordinary and amazing edition which everyone, from every corner of the earth, will participate in.”