Parma is ready to welcome more than 1,000 exhibitors and 100 buyers coming from all over the world to Mercanteinfiera, an extraordinary exhibition where the best of Italian design will be on stage.

During the last few years, Mercanteinfiera succeeded in establishing itself as an international benchmark for antiques, modern antiques and vintage collectibles.

From the 28^th of February to the 8^th of March, all those who will be visiting Fiere di Parma will enjoy the view of elegant furniture of the Victorian age, 18th-century secretaires, Napoleon III style cabinets and jewellery with timeless charm such as Cartier, Audermars Piguet, Tiffany. All this will be displayed alongside the most pop modern antiques and the most refined vintage pieces (including some by Chanel).

Mercanteinfiera has deliberately adopted a miscellaneous format which has always proved successful in drawing an appreciative audience with its multiplicity of offers for all budgets.

This year, this eclectic showcase of art has been enriched by two collateral events that will give the exhibition an exciting vitality. The first is "Circulating through time: strolling through design, furniture and daily life", a fascinating journey organized by Berni Studio- Interior Design of Parma that, in four different living-room settings narrating the tastes and customs of Italians through half a century of history: from the living rooms of the Sixties, when the family would get together for Sunday lunch, up to our days, without neglecting the habits of the '70s (with wallpaper and the typical brightly-coloured velvet sofas) and the '80s (when design and the quest for elegance became the only priorities to follow).

The second side event is "Ink battles. War: between advertising and propaganda through the filter of printed material", a project created to mark the centenary of the First World War. "The exhibition brings together about one hundred images from the Historical Advertising Archive in Como by Paola Mazza, prestigious first editions and original illustrations by great communicators of the time such as Beltrame, Codognato, and Dudovich, as well as artifacts, photographs, and documents from different private collections". The idea is "conveying the impact of the conflict both through communication accentuated by propaganda and advertising, and through the realistic and devastating images provided by the first photo reportages."

Follow @castaritaHK