3' min read
3' min read
Walking under a light that caresses the millenary stone, enhances its details and nuances, accompanies the gaze as it embraces the Sassi and the districts of the historic centre to branch out across the entire city of Matera, creating atmospheres of great impact and suggestion. This is what one feels as one walks through the UNESCO World Heritage site when the lights of the new public lighting system, redeveloped by the Vicenza-based Esco, City Green Light, start to come on at dusk, using efficient, cutting-edge technologies that minimise environmental impact in terms of energy and light pollution.
The works were started a year ago and are nearing completion. The entire public lighting network has been restructured, with the replacement of 10,564 lighting points with LED sources and 66 traffic light lanterns for a total investment in the area of approximately 7 million euro. The switchboards were also upgraded, approximately 400 damaged supports were replaced and installed and another 300 to be furnished in the historic centre area, more than 10 km of cable duct lines were built, 108 remote control systems for detecting faults and monitoring consumption and anomalies, 4 intelligent pedestrian crossings and the lighting of two roundabouts were installed.
A particularly delicate intervention, followed from the beginning by the Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape of Basilicata, which shared City Green Light's lighting study that has given the Sassi of Matera a new vitality, thanks to state-of-the-art lighting fixtures specifically designed to respect architecture and environment. The result is a uniform light colour, more visual comfort and the possibility to admire architectural details even at night. A soft and welcoming light on the Sassi of Matera, but also on its monuments: from the Cathedral, to Palazzo Lanfranchi, to the most beautiful churches.
"We are satisfied with the project developed in Matera, an iconic city and a symbol of culture and millenary history in Southern Italy, where our company has a long and consolidated experience working alongside local administrations," explained Arturo D'Atri, Business Development Director of City Green Light. "Today, we manage the public lighting service in around 330 Italian municipalities, serving 6 million citizens. Approximately 130 municipalities in Central and Southern Italy for more than 430,000 lighting points and over 2.3 million inhabitants. The main towns are Agrigento, Avellino, Brindisi, Catanzaro, Chieti, Lecce, Matera, Olbia, Oristano, Potenza, Trani, Trapani, Vibo Valentia and Viterbo. A key element is the active involvement of local companies for the maintenance and operational management of services to ensure a high level of quality and readiness of intervention'.
A light that is not only beautiful but also more efficient and powered by 100 per cent green energy, drastically reducing consumption, construction, operation and maintenance costs and, more generally, the Carbon Footprint of the installation. The LEDs used are 95% recyclable, contain no hazardous substances and emit light directly into the visible field.
