Brief overview of the Club and the Movement
The Cigar Club "Don Alejandro Robaina" of Matelica was founded in 2005 as a Cultural Association, with the aim of creating events to promote the local area and its historical and gastronomic features, as well as pursuing its passion for slow smoking.
Based on this philosophy, the Cigar Club Matelica has structured moments of gathering that have led it to be awarded as the Best Club in Italy for several consecutive years. It currently has the highest number of members.
The President of the Club, Francesco Minetti, was elected "Hombre Habanos Comunicación 2017" at the XX Festival del Habano in Cuba (the most important cigar festival in the world). Another point of pride is that the Matelica Club became part of a global network, becoming one of the very few Habanos Lounges in Italy.
The Cigar Club of Matelica is a member of the C.C.A. (Cigar Club Association), the National Association founded in 1999 that brings together clubs from both Italy and abroad. The association has over 1,500 members and organizes national and international conferences and events, either directly or through its member clubs. The association is apolitical, non-profit, and sociocultural in nature, with the goal of sharing the passion for cigars and slow smoking as a moment of gathering and cultural commitment. Since 2003, it has published the magazine "Sigari!" and organizes Entranimiento Basico courses (in 2017, the first entirely female course was held at our Cigar Club in Matelica) and Catadores courses at various affiliated clubs (in 2016, also hosted at our Cigar Club) to teach the history, culture, and tasting techniques of cigars.
Over the years, the Club has organized numerous international cultural events, among which stands out the one that most distinguishes it: the Encuentro Amigos de Partagas en Italia. This event has now become a world-class gathering: it has attracted participants from all over the world, with the presence of French Parliament deputies, prominent political figures, representatives from the Republic of Cuba and other nations, celebrities from the worlds of entertainment, music, and fashion, painters, journalists, various writers, as well as Presidents of clubs from across Italy and internationally.
The event and its project
The Encuentro Amigos de Partagas en Italia is organized with the collaboration of the Cigar Club Matelica and Diadema S.p.a. It is sponsored by the Municipality of Matelica, the Marche Region, and the Embassy of Cuba in Italy. Every year, the Consortium of Producers of Verdicchio di Matelica, Mintur Cuba-Si, and several commercial partners who represent true local and national excellences have supported the event.
This project is the final result of a long-term plan that aims to showcase the territory: its award-winning wines, its unique features, whether gastronomic, cultural, or historical.
The many ties with the Republic of Cuba and the world of Slow Smoking allow us every year to host prominent national and international figures connected to the cigar and wine and food industries.
This allows us each time to create an event with numerous participants, attracted by the various tasting features or thanks to the presence of prestigious guests that we are able to bring into the program and the event.
The various editions have seen participants from all over the world: Cuba, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal, the Cayman Islands, Albania, Greece, the United States, Mexico, New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, to name a few.
What has happened in recent years with the previous editions has placed our city at the heart of the world of slow smoking culture, leading to the Encuentro Amigos de Partagas en Italia being declared the second largest cigar event in the world, naturally after the one in Cuba.
The collaboration of the local community and businesses has demonstrated how much our city has to offer. From 2016 to 2019, the number of participants grew exponentially. In 2020, due to the obvious reasons related to the health emergency, the event had to be halted, but it resumed with the XV Encuentro in July 2021.
Despite the numerical limitations imposed by the situation, the fifteenth edition was a complete success: it was met with enormous enthusiasm, and we experienced the same atmosphere as in previous years. It was, for everyone, a return (hopefully permanent) to "normality."
The presence of a Hombre Habanos at the event, an extremely important recognition in the world of cigars, along with the Habanos Lounge distinction achieved by the Cigar Club, the great enthusiasm felt among the guests, and the significant media coverage received from renowned newspapers and major TV channels, gives us the certainty of a further increase in bookings for future editions.
The publicity in newspapers
You can find our event on the website www.amigosdepartagas.it. From here, you can access the related WordPress blog and various social media profiles: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
The event has been featured in several newspapers such as: Monsieur, Cigar Journal, Gentleman, Epicure, STILL, L’Azione, Geronimo, SIGARI, Live In Magazine, Corriere Adriatico, Messaggero, QN, Resto del Carlino, Orizzonti della Marca, and many online newspapers and blogs like: Cronache Maceratesi, Vivere Camerino, Il Bicchere Di Verso, SigariAvana, StileMaschile, Uomo&Manager, and Cucinaevini.it.
In the past, we have also had dedicated space on local radio stations such as Radio Blu and Radio Arancia. Local television channels like E' TV and TV Centro Marche were involved, and in 2017 and 2018, we even had coverage on TG5.
