Set within the Parco Archeologico di Ercolano, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, I Venerdì di Ercolano returns for its ninth edition, transforming the ancient ruins into an open-air stage for theatre, dance and live music. Throughout the summer, every Friday, visitors can walk through the site, lit for the occasion, while site-specific performances unfold across its different areas.
This year's theme, Amore e Guerra (Love and War), runs through seven performances: two of theatre, three of dance and two of music, exploring the bond between eros and polemos, from Lucretius' De rerum natura to Kleist's Penthesilea and Thucydides' account of Athenian passion for the conquest of Sicily.
Approximately 600 PROLIGHTS fixtures bring the site to life. 40 LumiPar 12IP units, a compact IP65 LED PAR with 12x9W RGBW LEDs, and 30 Arcled3109pix IP65 linear LED bars, each fitted with 9x10W RGBW LEDs and a narrow 12° projection angle, highlight the most significant architectural elements. Positioned at the base of walls and pillars, they work at a grazing angle that brings the relief of the ancient brickwork back into view, and both ranges being entirely fan-free, they guarantee complete silence throughout the theatre, dance and music performances, while their RGBW colour systems allow the palette to be calibrated on the warm tones of brick and tufa.
4 Mosaico, a 250W IP66 zoomable LED image projector, add depth to the setting through their gobo projections. Delivering over 11,600 lumens each, they replace traditional 1,200W HID fixtures, a decisive advantage on a site with limited power distribution, while the motorised 12.9° to 46.5° zoom allows them to cover irregular surfaces from low, ground-level positions where no rigging is possible.
More than 500 Smart Bat battery-powered LED uplighters are strategically positioned across the excavation, creating a play of light and shadow that turns the entire site into an evocative stage. Set down directly on the stone with no bracket, clamp or drilling, they leave the ancient paving entirely clear, and with up to 12 hours of runtime they carry each Friday evening from the warm amber of blue hour to the deeper scenographic palette of full darkness, while marking kerbs, steps and changes in level along the visitor route.
In Herculaneum, PROLIGHTS fixtures proved they can integrate into a historic site: enhancing the architecture of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with their own light, weaving into the narrative of Amore e Guerra and preserving the integrity of everything that lies beneath them.
Photo credit: Anna Abet
For more information, please contact: marketing@prolights.it.
