PALAHOTEL VALLENOCE: An occasion to remember
The Palahotel Ristorante Vallenoce in Decollatura near Catanzaro, Southern Italy, has during recent years become a favourite venue for celebrating important events such as marriages, graduations, and anniversaries.
It is well known for its particular customs, like the attendants who accompany guests to their tables dressed in 19th century costumes, and the waiters who change the colour of their clothing for each course.
And for some months now the Palahotel Vallenoce has been able to boast another exclusive facility which arose from a simple but ingenuous idea dreamed up by the owner Pino Cardamone: accompanying the key moment of the function, the cutting of the cake, with a spectacular light show.
This is how the novel cake-cutting ceremony goes: at the end of the meal, all the guests form a semi-circle, the lights are dimmed, the music starts, the curtain opens and the cake is carried in.
At this point the pyrotechnic light show starts, surrounding the guests while the Palahotel staff do the actual cutting, and photographers leap into action to immortalise the most exciting moments of the celebration.
The light show uses 24 Clay Paky Mini Scan HPE, 2 Clay Paky Golden Scan HPE, 1 Clay Paky Astroraggi Power, and 2 Clay Paky Golden Fog 2000 DMX. The Mini Scan HPEs are arranged in an arc on the wall and provide the main thrust of the show, thanks to their impressive performance which makes comparable to large scanners.
By virtue of their compact size and elegant design, the Mini Scan HPEs could be installed in an environment like the Palahotel Vallenoce, where visual considerations are all important and space is relatively limited, without any problem at all. Pino Cardamone says: “Palahotel has hosted many ceremonies and celebrations for a number of years now, and is renowned for professionalism and the quality of service we offer. Introducing the “cake cutting ceremony”, has given our venue a unique facility much appreciated by our guests.
Soon after it took off, more and more people decided to celebrate the important events in their lives at the Palahotel, so much so that in only a few months we saw our clientele increase by 30%.” The entire project ¾ design and installation of the lighting system, staging of the light show ¾ was entrusted to Dee Jay Service, a company run by Stefano Carelli and Remo Florio which is also Clay Paky’s distributor for Calabria and Basilicata.
This company has very definite ideas about the use of lighting in the professional arena: “The creative application of show lighting is unlimited, and any commercial enterprise can use it to meet the needs of their specific market.
We have been promoting the use of projectors for years in professional sectors outside the typical mainstream. The results have been very encouraging, and we are certainly going to continue in this direction”.
TERZO MILLENNIO: A new, modern discotheque
TERZO MILLENNIO is a distinctive discotheque in Catanzaro which opened its doors on 29th December 1999, with perfect timing.
It is open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and offers a variety of music, from commercial to disco, ballroom to Latin American.
This venue also hosts well known, highly skilled DJs and LJs and organises theme evenings, offering the public a brand of entertainment that is always different and attractive.
The disco is laid out on two levels: the ground level has the main octagonal dance floor, surrounded by walls decorated with “Mondrian Style” frescoes.
On the level above there is a circular floor, where Clay Paky Mini Scan HPE, Clay Paky Golden Scan 3, Clay Paky Stage Light 300 and Clay Paky Atlas lights have been installed.
Stefano Carelli and Remo Florio are the owners of Dee Jay Service, the company that looked after the design and installation of the lighting system: “We wanted to accentuate the moving body lights, and we tried to include effects that can meet the needs of the various types of music offered.
We also installed a personalised gobo that projects the TERZO MILLENNIO logo onto the centre of the floor… this was the idea of the owner, Rino Giglio, and Ennio Spina the Technical Director.
A V.I.P. 300 projects the same logo from another gobo into the entrance, which is a really original and friendly way to welcome guests ¾ . far more attractive and practical than fitting a sign to the wall, we can also assure you!”.
A “Glamour Room” on the first floor caters for Ballroom and Latin American dancing, and there is a “decompression” room with parquet floors, completely sound proofed, called the “Sala Pommery” (named after the Champagne).
Each of these has its own bar: Bacardi Bar, Martini Bar and Coca-Cola Bar, designed and sponsored by the producers behind the brands.
“Every detail has been taken care of,” the owner adds, “l plan to have other interesting ideas included soon, to ensure that this discotheque becomes more and more popular as the favourite venue for everyone living in the Third Millennium…”.
Technical details:
Name: Terzo Millennio
Address: Via dei Conti Rufo 25, Catanzaro
Floor Area: 1800 m2
Capacity: 2300 people
Owner: Rino Giglio
Technical Director: Ennio Spina
Audio System: Outline
Lighting System: CLAY PAKY:
Mini Scan HPE
Golden Scan 3
Stage Light 300
Atlas
V.I.P. 300
METROPOLIS: A Shopping Centre that’s also pretty on the outside too…
An interesting example of architectural lighting was carried out at the Metropolis di Rende shopping centre, one of the biggest in the whole of Calabria, and an extremely busy place over the Christmas period. Mr. Busillo, the centre’s manager, wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year/Millennium, by projecting scenes typical of the festivities on the outer walls of the building.
Twenty Clay Paky V.I.P 300s were installed for the purpose, some of which fitted with oscillating mirrors, making the scenes appear to climb up the walls, and others with rotating mirrors that rotated the season’s greetings through 360°.
The Tower of the Shopping Centre’s stood out in the midst, smothered in starlights projected by a V.I.P 300 with a wide-angle 45 mm lens.
Stefano Carelli and Remo Florio of Dee Jay Service explain: “the V.I.P, like the entire Display Line range, which will shortly include new models, is able to project an image differently and creatively.
Light is a very efficient means of communication because it captures attention and sticks in the person’s memory, whether transmitting advertisements, information, or simple Christmas greetings, as in this case.
The results were outstanding, besides being congratulated by Mr. Busillo and the entire management staff of the Shopping Centre, we also received a large number of compliments from visitors and shopkeepers working in the Centre”.