The 37th Convention of the Italian Chapter: A Record Breaking Success.
By Dr. Miguel Estade, President of the Europe Committee
As every year hunters from Europe, United States and especially Italy gathered together in the wonderful city of Bologna for the 37th convention organized by the Italian chapter. It was a very nice and worthy long weekend with meetings, a very competitive shooting competition, gala dinners with auction and a very nice jump into the past of the millennial University city of Bologna.
An informal welcome dinner brought us through the corridors of the Palazzo Buoncompagni. This place is well-known, as Pope Gregory XIII lived here to whom we owe the reform of the “Gregorian Calendar”, replacing the “Julian Calendar” attributed to Julius Caesar. The next morning most participants went to the shooting competition near the city, while guests and their spouses had the opportunity to visit and company the city center and the architectural treasures of the 15th century.
The core business started in the afternoon when the European committee gathered together in a regular meeting. It was an honor to have our president John McLaurin present, as well as our CEO Laird Hamberlin. We were able to show to our leaders our commitment as committee and growing strength in the European continent. We had a very dense agenda to tackle and we shared information on our conservation projects in Portugal and Switzerland. As president of the committee, I am very happy to see that the number of chapters is growing with the recently established chapter of BENELUX, the reshuffled chapter of the United Kingdom, and plans to set up chapters in Finland, France and the Middle East. Also some chapters renewed their leadership as the royal Nordic, Hungary, and Kingdom of Denmark, welcoming the new presidents in our committee for the first time. I am glad to see that the committee is united and that we have lots of ideas to implement in the next future for which our self-sufficiency is crucial to deliver to the members of the SCI a real success story.
Two excellent and very well-attended gala dinners on Friday and Saturday enlivened the hot evenings. A record-breaking amount was collected by the auction and raffle. Also the Carlo Caldesi Award by Holland and Holland 2024, the Trophy Beretta Holding overall 2024 as the Italian chapter award was handed over to where very well merited and devoted hunters. I am personally very thankful to the Italian chapter for having me awarded with their chapter award. This is for me an honor and a joy which I share with the new generations of hunters to come and with all those who accompanied me in worldwide adventures.
Finally, I would like to thank Tizianno Terzi and his team for their commitment, work and time they dedicate to the SCI chapter and our worldwide network. It is amazing and an example for other chapters how they manage conservation, hunting, advocacy, helping the poorest worldwide, and so many other things to defend our devotion to hunt. Next year the chapter will celebrate it’s 40th anniversary, this will be a milestone of a chapter and I only hope that many friends from all over the world will accompany us during the 2025 convention. See you next year!
