In the International Day of Light, City Green Light and the Municipality of Matera present the new public lighting system of City of Stones. The public lighting project, created by the Vicenza-based ESCo, represents the last stage in the history of a thousand-year-old city which, thanks to City Green Light, is projected towards a future in which technological innovation becomes the key to improving the sustainability and theinclusion. Making, if possible, one of the even more beautiful Italian UNESCO world heritage sites most iconic, loved and consecrated by national and international cinema. From Pasolini to Mel Gibson up to Cary Joji Fukunaga, who set the opening scenes of the last one in Matera James Bond with Daniel Gray.
At the press conference that just ended at House of Emerging Technologies of Materapresent the Mayor of the city, Domenico Bennardi And Arturo D’Atri, Business Development Director City Green Light, for the institutional greetings and the presentation of the project. With Pietro LaureanoArchitect and urban planner and UNESCO consultant, Angelo Raffaele CotugnoCouncilor for Public Works and Innovation, Cecilia PutignanoEngineering & Technical Services Director City Green Light e Mario Di SoraItalian Dark Sky Association Italian Section representative.
THE PROJECT
The interventions, which began in May 2023 and are nearing completion, concern the redevelopment of the entire public lighting network, with the replacement of 10,564 light points with LED sources And 66 traffic lights. The total amount of investments in the area is approximately €7 million and includes, in addition to the replacement of the lighting fixtures, also the adaptation of the electrical panels, the replacement/installation of approx 400 ailing supports and further 300 for furniture in the historic center area, more than 10 km of cable lines, 108 remote control systems for detecting faults and monitoring consumption and anomalies, 4 intelligent pedestrian crossings, lighting of two roundabouts. The project, which involves the management of the system by City Green Light for 9 years, also includes the sharing of the energy savings achievedThe remote control of all systems by joining the Public Energy Living Lab (PELL) project promoted by ENEA, the ordinary and extra-ordinary maintenancesharing to 50% of Energy Efficiency Certificates. The renewed public lighting infrastructure also allows the use of further technologies based on artificial intelligence, such as monitoring of environmental parameters and gods traffic flows, to model the use of devices based on needs detected in real time. With positive repercussions on road safety and reduction of CO emissions2 for the benefit of the environment and citizens.
Among the services for infomobility and traffic and transport management developed by City Green Light for Matera, there is also a system specifically designed to meet people’s needs visually impaired. In fact, a network is being created of radio beacons strategically positioned in different urban areas, through which users, equipped with a special talking stick, they have the opportunity to interact with the surrounding environment in a more autonomous and conscious way.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY: REDUCTION OF CONSUMPTION, EMISSIONS AND LIGHT POLLUTION
THE LIGHT THAT CARESES THE STONEThe heart of the intervention is the architectural redevelopment of the Sassi of Matera which, thanks to a project lighting technology developed together with exceptional partnersallows you to combine the need to give maximum emphasis to architectural peculiarities of the site with compliance with the criteria of sustainability. Minimizing the environmental impact in terms of energetic, of thelight pollution and of theinclusion, thanks to special sensors designed to allow the visually impaired to interact with the environment. With City Green Light, the ancient houses carved into the rock emerge with a new vitality, thanks to designed lighting fixtures specifically to respect the architecture and surrounding environment. The result is a uniform light color, greater visual comfort, and the possibility of admiring the architectural details with a soft and welcoming light surrounded by a magical atmosphere, where the past and the present merge in a luminous harmony that celebrates the timeless beauty of the Sassi of Matera. Particular attention is paid to most representative buildings of the historic center – the Cathedral, Palazzo Lanfranchi, the Churches of Santa Chiara, San Giovanni Battista, Sant’Agostino, San Francesco, S. Biagio, del Purgatorio – which will be enhanced with systems of latest generation architectural lighting. Designed specifically for the city.
THE EXHIBITION
To tell with the power of images how the efficiency of public lighting combines with the ancient spirit of the places, the photographic exhibition “Rekindle the imagination. Paths of light between past and present”, open to the public from today, with free entry.
The exhibition, inaugurated by Ivan MoliterniDirector of the Ombre Meridiane School of Matera, who oversaw the selection of the shots, proposes a path with a strong impact where the light becomes the bridge between tradition and technological progress. From the ancient Sassi districts and the historic centre, where the natural games of full and empty spaces, of light and shadow, have visually worked the material, up to the most modern areas of Matera. To ignite the future of Matera and project the city towards a technological and sustainable future.
