Fiat Group will be honoured at the 101st anniversary gala dinner of the Italian-American Chamber of Commerce, Midwest with the Business Excellence Award; Sergio Marchionne will be on hand to accept the award on Saturday.

Chicago’s second full-scale festival to showcase all things Italian will take place at Navy Pier this weekend. Italian Style - a large scale, family-friendly festival will feature exotic Italian automobiles, fashion, design, tourist destinations, farm and construction equipment, music, food, wine and more from over 100 exhibitors from Italy. Events taking place as part of the festival include culinary seminars, food and wine tastings, fashion shows, hair and make-up instruction, concerts, historical videos and more.

CEO of Fiat Group Sergio Marchionne will attend the expo on Saturday (September 20th) to present the new Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. Mr. Marchionne will also receive the Business Excellence Award during the Italian Style Gala dinner, the 101st anniversary gala dinner of the Italian-American Chamber of Commerce, Midwest, on Saturday evening at Navy Pier’s Grand Ballroom, beginning at 6:30pm. The Gala will be attended by prestigious representatives of the Italian government and a variety of Italian managers and businesspeople.

Italian Style 2008 Chairman Mauro Galli said the unprecedented three day festival was conceived to promote the excellence of Italian style in the fields of business, technology, culture, fashion, society and art to Chicagoans. “We organized this event to not only showcase the city of Chicago to our Italian business and cultural partners in an effort to drive more investment into our community,” he said, “but also to educate the people of Chicago about what Italy really is and all that it has to offer. In the process, we know everyone will have a lot of fun.”

More than 100 exhibitors will be in attendance including Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Lamborghini automobiles, Ducati motorbikes, Vespa scooters, Case IH and New Holland agricultural equipment, Case, New Holland and Kobelco construction machinery, Academia Barilla foods, Peroni beer, Oro di Roma jewellery and fashion, and the tourism centres of Rome, Sicily, Brescia, Trento, and others. Italian Style’s presenting sponsors are CNH (Case New Holland) a leading manufacturer and seller of agricultural and construction machinery, which is part of the Fiat Group, and Air One, a leading Italian Airline that features a new daily flight connecting the cities of Chicago and Milan.