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Now in a new light, Bologna and its historic center are more beautiful than ever. City gates, over 40 buildings and monuments, and 16 kilometers of porticoes have new lighting, with luminaires specially designed for the city and new light points that enhance the priceless historic, artistic, and architectural heritage of the Circle of the Thousand. As ambitious as it was rewarding, this project has made a positive contribution to the management of the Porticoes of Bologna, a UNESCO world heritage site, and to local sustainability efforts, with it producing a 77% energy saving, corresponding to 387 metric tons less CO2 released into the atmosphere. After an in-depth study of the history and present of the area, in close collaboration with the local government, over 3500 luminaires were replaced and 680 new light points were installed, all of them featuring elegantly minimal lines, which, in some cases, disappear into the architecture.
The project, the work of I-DEA, a firm specializing in lighting design for cities, monuments, and museums, has effectively brought past and present together, with innovative lighting that also protects and enhances the history of the old center and attractions such as Piazza Santo Stefano, Piazza San Domenico, and the gates in its historic walls.
Suppliers and installers working on the project included Radar, iGuzzini, Thorn (Zumtobel group), Lumascape, and the Innova consortium with its partners Omnia and Sgargi Impianti. Neri carried out the restoration work.
Some of the most famous sections of Bologna’s porticoes, such as on Via Indipendenza, were part of the new lighting project. Here, in particular, the new luminaires, dubbed Bird, were specifically designed to enhance porticoes that previously had hanging lights on chains. Produced by iGuzzini, Bird brings different lighting effects to both the street and portico. It reuses the original overhead installation points, therefore avoiding any invasive changes to the architecture, while improving safety in the area. Bird is the product of an ecodesign approach aimed at minimizing environmental impact. With over 90% of the impact of any lighting fixture stemming from its use, reducing its environmental impact involves minimizing energy consumption. Bird uses the Optismart Lens, an extraordinarily efficient lens produced in iGuzzini’s Recanati factories. A smart light, Bird can be controlled remotely and programmed to respond to real-time light conditions, which further minimizes consumption.
Another section of the porticoes that is particularly famous for its beauty is Pavaglione. In this historically important series of porticoes, the existing precious lighting fixtures were retained and restored to their original splendor by Neri. Following the installation of LEDs, these luminaires are now both safer and more energy efficient.
One of the biggest challenges of the project was that the porticoes are largely privately owned but for public use.
I-DEA also redesigned and overhauled the lighting in the famous Piazza Santo Stefano and Piazza San Domenico. In Piazza Santo Stefano, the first step was to remove canopies that blocked off the view of the sky above the basilica. Where the functional lighting of the square combines with the lighting of the façade of the basilica, the Contrast range, produced by Thorn Lighting (Zumtobel group) was used to accent key architectural elements.
Extremely versatile, Contrast lets users create installations with high design flexibility and great visual impact. Featuring three sizes and horizontal/lateral rotation, Contrast is simple to install, while its circular design is both attractive and makes it easy to add on a large range of optical and shielding accessories.
The focus in Piazza San Domenico was to improve the lighting both functionally and aesthetically. Lumascape’s Quadralux Q8s was chosen to achieve this. The stylite columns, apses, dome, and Tombs of the Glossators now appear quite different with the new lighting design. Quadralux Q8 is an ultra-high power architectural spotlight designed to operate at up to 1.3 million candela, while offering numerous functions, including EasyGlowTM visual comfort and CoolDriveTM thermal management technology. The proprietary PowerSyncTM interface provides digital control functionality.
The same approach was taken with San Pietro Cathedral, with the added complication of providing suitable lighting in limited adjacent space.
iGuzzini supplied simple, minimalist luminaires, with high energy efficiency and LED technology, for lighting the ten gates in the city walls and a number of green areas in the city center.
“We developed our approach to lighting Bologna based on an in-depth knowledge of the urban, morphological, and historical features of each situation,” explain architect Lorenza Golinelli and engineer Alberto Ricci Petitoni of I-DEA. “As specialists in heritage management, we planned the nocturnal appearance of the old center by creating a visual continuity within the perimeter of the site. We used light to showcase its architecture in a different way at night, but always in terms of the unbreakable link between monuments and their setting.”
The new lighting strategy, and the painstaking work that saw the project reach completion in late 2023, is the subject of a photographic exhibition at Biblioteca Salaborsa, Bologna’s main public library, which will run through June 25. Titled The Light of Bologna, the exhibition features photos that tell the before-and-after story of the project, with photography by Oscar Ferrari.
