Tag Archive: technogym


LANGUAGE MATTERS IN WELLNESS VALLEY

Filed under: Health and fitness, Italy — Leave a comment
January 19, 2014

Wellness_ValleyThe French are renowned for their zero tolerance towards borrowing words from other languages. Previously I have regarded this as an extremist position but I am beginning to think they have a point. Italians are not so up tight on this issue and the consequences are plain for all to see.

Many schools have ‘Open Days’ , numerous companies adopt tiresome variations of Obama’s  ‘Yes We Can’ slogan and my local gym is peppered with motivational missives like ‘Never Give Up’  and ‘Impossible Is Nothing.

Using such phrases is presumably intended to show that corporate Italy takes an all-encompassing Anglo-American attitude to business, education and leisure pursuits.

Near where I live, the successful Technogym gym equipment company calls itself ‘The Wellness Company’™.  Their  ‘Technogym Village’ is a poncey name for their spanking new HQ which opened in 2013 and is located in what founder Nerio Alessandri has recently named  ‘Wellness Valley’. His stated  aim is to single-handedly create a sporty equivalent of  Silicon Valley in the heart of Emilia-Romagna. Continue reading →

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RIMINI WELLNESS

Filed under: Italy — Leave a comment
May 18, 2008

A unseasonally overcast Sunday in Emilia Romagna was a good day to look in on some choreographed energy courtesy of the Rimini Wellness Festival.
‘Wellness’ is a bastardisation of ‘wellbeing’ conjured up as part a world domination package by Technogym, a ubiquitous high flying fitness company in these parts. The company began marketing their home and professional gym products in 1983 and 25 years on the business of ‘looking good-feeling great’ is obviously still a major money spinner.
The Technogym stand at in the exhibition hall oozes success but it’s patently clear that they now have a lot of noisy rivals looking to steal their potential customers. Pumped up personal trainers push willing souls through their paces who copy their every move in scenes which made me think of Queen’s ‘Radio Ga-Ga’ video. These slaves to the rhythm tap into the peer pressure that tells us that the body beautiful must be both slim and muscular. An army survival course proved popular where young woman were taken through their paces. This included crawling through a muddy tunnel after which they were unceremoniously hosed down:
Army hose down muddy girl

I found the experience quite overwhelming and looked in vain for a Zen meditation space – the healthy body is one thing and the weary soul is quite another.
I was also struck by the lack of convincing nutrition stands. There were few good non-meat alternatives – one stand sold wholemeal pasta which looked like dog food. Young Italians are clearly hell bent on looking good but the logical link to vegetarianism is still not a connection which is being made.

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