Gardaland turns 50: the story of how it became synonymous with the theme park

For 50 years Gardaland has been bringing fun, emotions and smiles to generations of Europeans of all ages. It was the 19th of July 1975 when Gardaland opened its doors to the public for the first time, bringing to Italy, on the shores of Lake Garda, a new model of experiencing outdoor fun. The director and driving force behind the Gardaland project was Livio Furini, an entrepreneur who in the 1960s opened the first supermarket in the lake district at Castelnuovo del Garda. After a trip to the United States where he discovered the wonders of Disneyland, he decided to replicate that modern model of family amusement parks in Italy. It was a 200 million lire gamble in the early 1970s that led to the creation of what has since become synonymous with theme parks. In 1975, the entrance ticket cost 1,750 lire and allowed access to about twenty attractions. After the first month, admissions reached 60,000. It was a success.

"Gardaland mirrors the evolution of leisure time and Italian society. Once upon a time people arrived with road maps on their dashboard while today the Park can be reached with the navigator, with apps they book attractions, they live immersive experiences that they share in real time on social networks - recalls Stefano Cigarini, CEO and vice-president of Gardaland Resort -. The Park has transformed along with the Italians: from the first rides to the current big attractions, from a season limited to a few months to the current ten months of opening. In these 50 years we have welcomed around 100 million visitors - as if every Italian had come almost twice - but above all more than 50 thousand people have worked at Gardaland: a great number of them have contributed to building what today is the number one Italian tourist attraction".

In the 1980s, the park saw the construction of its first large themed attraction: 'The Valley of the Kings'. In 1978 Furini founded "ElettronicAnimazione", a company that worked on designing attractions for theme parks, but also a workshop where fibreglass sets were created. This was followed by 'I corsari', an epic dark ride, revolutionary in terms of scenery and technology, and the most ambitious work realised in Italy up to that time. Blue Tornado, Jungle Rapids and Space Vertigo will also progressively arrive. In 2001 came Prezzemolo, the park's mascot, and the opening of Fantasy Kingdom, an area for children. The following year it was the turn of a first attempt at deseasonalisation: here came Gardaland Magic Halloween followed by Magic Winter, a series of seasonal themed events that made Gardaland a true tourist destination.

"Gardaland has marked the history of customs, society and leisure time in Italy," says Cigarini. "There are places and companies that become part of the collective imagination, and Gardaland is one of these. When one wants to promise fun, one says: 'I'm taking you to Gardaland', meaning 'I'm taking you to the place par excellence of fun'. Everyone keeps a memory linked to the park: an experience lived with friends, with one's family, with one's children, with one's partner. Gardaland is a "place that stays with you forever"'.

The park grows, renews itself and becomes a destination with the opening of Gardaland Hotel in 2004, the first step for the development of the resort part. In 2006 it became part of the Merlin Entertainments group, the planetary giant of theme parks. A few years later it opened the Gardaland Sea Life Aquarium, a themed aquarium with 40 tanks, 5,000 specimens of 100 species and edutainment experiences. Today the park offers a series of themed events, three themed hotels, the Legoland Water Park - unique in Europe - and the Sea Life Aquarium, the first themed aquarium in Italy.