Historical Buildings & Cultural Venues
053
L&L Luce&Light
052
L&L Luce&Light
Scaligero Castle in Malcesine
Location
Malcesine, Verona, Italy
Application
Paths and steps, Facades
Light planning
lucearchitettura
(Lorella Marconi, Cinzia Todeschini)
Photography
Alessio Tamborini
Overlooking the north-eastern shore of Lake Garda, the Scaligero
Castle in Malcesine, with its roots in the Middle Ages but dominated
in later centuries by the Venetians, French and Austrians, has
recently undergone a lighting redevelopment. The lighting design,
the work of Lucearchitettura, has made the fortified structure even
more captivating.
Built on three levels, accessible by internal paths, the castle features
a tower with an irregular pentagonal floor plan and a casermetta (the
Palazzo Veneziano), a lower building that once housed the castle
guards. A little further on, a balcony juts out over the lake, 24 metres
above the water’s surface, allowing an expansive, evocative view of
the lake and the surrounding mountains.
The castle is accessed through a new entrance, splendidly framed
in light from Bright 2.4 fixtures, 5W 3000K 45° CRI>90, with
built-in anti-glare hoods. Recessed into the ground at the feet
of the entrance’s two successive arches, the fixtures create
depth, highlighting the cannonballs’ rounded forms with dramatic
chiaroscuro effects.
Beyond the entrance, two Ginko 2.0 projectors are installed in the
wall: 5W 3000K and 4000K CRI>90, with 13°x52° elliptical optics
in the first and 45° optics in the second, and asymmetrical snoots
on both. They masterfully illuminate remnants of frescoes, probably
the remains of a Scaligeri chapel. In the north-eastern corner of the
courtyard, at the base of the tower, the same fixture, this time in
a 3000K version with 45° optics, illuminates a 14th-century fresco
depicting the Madonna and Child.
Rondò 2.1 step lights, 2W 3000K, with radial optics, are installed
in the ground to illuminate the passageway connecting the first
courtyard to the second, on the exterior of the Scaligeri residence,
with their light extending to the low wall in front. The same fixtures
light the perimeter of a raised space known as Rivellino, from which
the village, lake and western flank of Mount Baldo can be admired.
Today it is used to celebrate fairytale weddings, with a breathtaking
view of Lake Garda. The passageways with vaulted ceilings are lit by
Litus 1.6 recessed fixtures, 3.5W with diffuse optics
Rondò 2.1
power: 2W
optics: radial
colour temp.: 3000K
finish: anthracite
Bright 2.4
power: 5W
optics: 45°
colour temp.: 3000K
finish: stainless steel
anti-glare screen
