Hi Martine.
seven years ago I founded in Milan a small bead society, the Compagnia delle Perle, with a handful of collectors and bead interested people. We experienced that our more successful activity was organizing exhibits. Currently we organize at the beginning of June an exhibit we call "a week-end show", which includes a thematic exhibit and a space for members to sell or show their crafts or their collections. An enlarged version of this exhibit is organized if there is somebody (museums, associations etc.) interested to it. The small network of collectors often allow us to cover different aspects of each subject with old and new beads, beadwork, memorabilia. The most successful subject has proven to be that of Venetian beads; I enjoyed particularly the one we organized in 2009 in Arcore, a small town north of Milan that became famous in Italy for hosting the main residence of Mr.Berlusconi, which Italian newspapers often call "the man from Arcore".
The exhibit was host in a XVIII century, just restored villa: you can see in the picture a panoramic view of part of the exhibit.