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The competition of ideas began on 1 December (which will close on 27 March 2024) for the redevelopment of the area of the former Seminary of San Massimo in the city of Verona launched by the Diocese of Verona together with the San Zeno Foundation, created in 1999 by Sandro Veronesi, president of the Calzedonia Group which is based in nearby Villafranca.
The day before the launch of the project, the group founded in 1986 (which includes, in addition to the brand of the same name, also Intimissimi, Falconeri, Tezenis, Signorvino, Atelier Emé, Antonio Marras, the Cantiere nautico del Pardo, taken over in August, Grand Soleil, Pardo and Van Dutch) precisely by virtue of the expansion of the categories of its brands well beyond the original fashion, has announced the change of its name: it will be called Oniverse, an anagram of the surname Veronesi, but also a term that evokes a “universe ” populated with different elements, in fact. A universe of which Veronesi’s three children are also increasingly part.
«The Group has been able to grow constantly – declared the entrepreneur -. Today we are a reality with a great history, a constantly evolving universe, with different brands all characterized by their own identity. For this reason the choice of a name that was independent and autonomous, but which could represent the essence of all. In fact, we want each brand to have its autonomy, while remaining part of a Group. Oniverse indicates belonging, but also freedom. A heterogeneous whole, made up of different realities, but part of the same project.”
The Veneto group, moreover, has just won (as in 2022) first place in the Fashion category in Pambianco’s Quotabili, i.e. the companies that have the best conditions to enter the lists. For Oniverse, 2022 closed with revenues of 3.047 billion, an increase of 21.6% at current exchange rates (+20.2% at constant exchange rates) compared to 2021, a year in which sales had already exceeded those of 2019, marking a full recovery (+3.9%) on the pre-Covid period.
Returning to the competition of ideas launched to redevelop the former seminary in Verona, the project offers individuals, businesses and consortia, public and private bodies, associations, such as universities, training and research institutes up to schools the possibility of rethinking the area of 17 hectares, and offer a future to buildings and spaces such as the 700-seat theatre-auditorium located under the church of San Giuseppe, as well as to the rural buildings used in the past for the cultivation of the surrounding countryside. The first three winning projects will be awarded a total of 50 thousand euros. The San Zeno Foundation is supporting the competition, a non-profit organization involved for almost 25 years in projects in the areas of education and work: in 2022 it supported 60, mostly in Europe, but also in other countries around the world, with 5.4 million euros.