Casina Valadier is a historic monumental villa, built at the request of Napoleon in 1817 and located in the heart of the Villa Borghese park on the Pincian Hill. The building offers spectacular views over the eternal city and to celebrate its 200th anniversary, a new lighting system was designed for it. The project was commissioned by the Montefusco family who currently manage the villa that was designed and built by the famous architect Giuseppe Valadier. The idea was to retrieve the French bistro style retreat included in the original villa that became extremely popular with the milieus of culture, art and politics for the entire Risorgimento and up until after the First World War. Considered the architectural value of the project and the innovative model of collaboration created between different private parties for a public monument, Casina Valadier has succeeded in going back to being an important landmark for both Rome’s citizens and tourists. Its historic café and exclusive restaurant with views over the entire city make it the perfect location for national and international events. With the blessing of the Municipality of Rome and the Special Arts and Archaeology Heritage Authorities, the Loft Canova architectural studio was commissioned by the Montefusco family to create a new lighting design. The result was an ambitious design featuring unobtrusive LED luminaires, like the iPro projectors positioned at the base of the villa’s columns and pilasters to emphasize their verticality, and the Woody projectors used in the gardens. Continuous and invisible, Underscore InOut light lines have also been positioned on the splendid villa’s cornices, stairs, frescoed ceilings and the sumptuous red carpet that marks its entrance. Together, these luminaires constitute a masterly balance of vertical and horizontal light lines, which are controlled by a light management system to create a spectacular outdoor lighting system for the entire villa and its park. For the first time in its history, then, Casina Valadier can now also reveal its face at night. The goal of the project was to enhance the aesthetics by using LED technology to reduce energy consumption in favour of greater eco-sustainability. The use of compact lighting bodies has enabled the impact of the design to be reduced to a minimum. The design of the distribution system, which has positioned everything that powers the projectors and Underscore InOut luminaires remotely, is also of fundamental importance. This ensures that the luminaires are not invasive and the only thing that interacts with the architecture of the structure is the light that enhances its beauty.

Year: 2019

Client: La Grande Cucina Spa

Architectural project: Loft Canova - Pasquale Piroso

Photographer: Courtesy of Pasquale Piroso