Veneto is a region in the north west of Italy. The main production sector is manufacturing, represented by over 70,000 business units.

This includes a vast number of production sectors, which stand out for their high degree of diversification and specialization. These include:

• the clothing, textile and footwear sector,
• the metal-engineering sector, which is the most important in terms of the number of companies and employees, and which has continued to expand so that over 24,000 firms are now involved. Within this sector, the electromechanical, metalworking, machine-tool manufacturing and installation, and precision machining fields are particularly important.
• The woodworking and furniture sector, which includes 13,000 enterprises and represents a sector of considerable importance even on a national scale.

The original agricultural vocation of this region of Italy has succeeded in renewing and modernizing its methods, directing its efforts towards top quality production, forming close links with the industry, in order to give rise to an agro-industrial system that is responsible for about 38% of the region's GDP.

One strong point of Veneto agriculture is represented by the winemaking sector, which excels on the national scene both in the overall quantity of its production and output per hectare, and in the quality of its end-product, which takes a share of over 20% of the nation's wine production.

In tune with its economic progress, recent years have also seen great developments in its services sector, which now ensures valid support for the vitality of the production system in the field of financial credit, information system, and commercial and business services in general.

One of the particular features of the Veneto model lies in its so-called "industrial clusters", i.e. geographically well defined areas in which enterprises specializing in the same type of product have become concentrated.

This distribution in clusters is a genuine industrialization formula, which enables companies to benefit from interesting synergism in terms of rationalization, research and development, services and the availability of a network of suitable sub-suppliers.

In the Veneto region, there are numerous production specialization that are distinguishable in geographical clusters.

The various enterprising vocation of these geographical clusters in the Veneto region include the following:

• the enterprises specializing in the processing of marble and in the production of the related technologies are concentrated in the Verona cluster;
• the confectionery sector specializing in baked cakes and pastries (Pandoro, Panettone, Easter cakes) is also concentrated in Verona;
• in the area south of Verona, lying on the border with the province of Padua, there are over 400 companies producing artistic furniture;
• the heating system technologies sector has grown up in the Legnago clusters;
• in the Valle del Chiampo, in the province of Vicenza, there is a concentration of tanning firms which are responsible for almost half the national output;
• the area between Vicenza and Bassano is occupied by the industrial jewellery sector, with over 1,200 enterprises having a combined annual turnover in excess US$ 3,200 million;
• the historic site of the textile industry is in the cluster around Schio, Thiene and Valdagno;
• between the provinces of Vicenza and Padua there are about 300 firms specializing in the production of fur coats;
• along the Brenta Riviera, between Padua and Venice, there are nearly 1000 enterprises producing more than 19 million shoes a year;
• Belluno and the Cadore cluster are the home of the companies making sunglasses and spectacles;
• firms making the famous Murano glass on one of the islands in the Venice lagoon.