The Ligurian expenditure planned for December for the purchase of typical Christmas products and services is 658 million euros. Out of the total, 429 million will be used to purchase food and beverages, 229 for other products and services. An expense thus divided between the provinces of the region: estimated 361 million in Genoa (of which 235 in food and drinks and 126 in other products and services), 118 million in Savona (77 in food, 41 in other products), 90 in Imperia (59 food and beverages, 31 other products and services), 89 in La Spezia (58 in food, 31 in other products).
The picture emerges from the latest analysis by the Confartigianato Studies Office (Istat data). The choice is not lacking: chocolates, panettone, nougat. But also canned, sweet and savory. Or a jewel, a toy, an accessory, a fine dress. A quality tool or object. In Liguria there are 7,747 artisan micro-enterprises that produce typical products or services of the Christmas offer. 2.5% of the national total, 25.3% of the total handicraft in the region. And 22,108 people work there.
Of these small and very small businesses, 3,868 are active in the province of Genoa (11,723 employees), another 1,663 are in the Savona area (4,421 employees), in Imperia there are 1,222 (with 2,810 employees), while in the province of La Spezia the active micro-enterprises are 1,095, with 3,157 employees.
«There is more than one reason to give a product or a craftsman service – explains Giancarlo Grasso, president of Confartigianato Liguria – Raw materials of excellent quality, careful and precise processing. But also originality, which comes from the encounter between tradition, creativity and innovation, which only a craftsman can put together with skill. And again, listening to the person, from whom the personalized supply of a product or service often derives. Also for this Christmas, therefore, the invitation is to choose an artisan gift in our shops, in these days also protagonists of Stile Artigiano in Genoa, buying the best of made in Liguria and helping to enhance all those small productions that move the ‘economy of the region’.
A good part of the Christmas artisan offer is concentrated in catering, food and drinks: there are 2,436 realities active in these sectors in our region and almost 10,500 people work there. Of these micro-enterprises, in particular, 1,089 are restaurants (3,658 employees), 972 are specialized in bakery products (more than 5,000 employees) and 132 in other food products (about 660 employees).
At the provincial level, a good part of these small realities are located in the province of Genoa, 1,210 in total. 558 are restaurants, while 504 are businesses specializing in baked goods. About sixty other food productions. In total, there are almost 5,500 employees in the Genoese area. Then follow the food artisans of Savona, 571 micro-enterprises to the credit: for the most part they are restaurants (241) and artisan bakery products (231). About 40 small businesses specializing in food products. The employees in the province are 2,170. We then come to La Spezia, where the micro-enterprises active in food and catering are 349 (1,523 employees), of which 166 are restaurants and 141 are bakeries and other food productions. Finally, Imperia: 306 micro-enterprises, of which 124 are restaurants and 128 of bakery and other food products. Here there are 1,278 employees in the sector.