Among the International City Light Festivals, the
CidneOn should be considered as one to visit. The event has been running since 2017, although this year it did not go ahead due to technical and unforeseeable issues. With the hoped it will come back in 2021, let's see why it has become a resonant occasion that gathers hundreds of thousands of visitors each edition.
Fulgida
First, the venue of
Cidneon is the
Castle of Brescia, which gets lit by the light art designs and settings chosen by the artistic direction. The Cidneon has been named after the Cidneo Hill, where the citadel stands and the neon path is organised, thanks to the wide green area of the park surrounding the colossal complex.
View of Brescia from the Castle
Secondly, the fortified building itself offers labyrinthic trails, hidden corners, small squares, weird passages and naturalistic viewpoints on the valleys that enhance the experience of this unique festival.
Brescia Castle
Moreover, if one is willing to keep fit and healthy, this event is great to attend because of the steep streets one has to undertake in order to reach the location. Unless you prefer to take a taxi or are lucky to find a carpark during those special nights under the castle.
Every edition as a specific topic: last year, the festival had been dedicated to the Italians icons, from the pasta making process videos to the mapping designs of Leonardo's Vitruvian Man and the luminous installations representing the Italian architecture worldwide. Other site-specific works honored the memory of Italian heroes, scientists, popular authors – like
Carlo Collodi with his pen-creature Pinocchio, creative talents and designers' genius.
After the introduction of
Leonardo's neon mapping tribute, a great luminous and iridescent fashion parade welcomed the audience. The artist KimTae Gon and the students of Accademia Santa Giulia had realised dreamlike and bright gowns in honor of the great Italian style.
A purple dress called Utopia opened the show, which had inserted in it other tags reporting qualities and virtues we can find in this artistic world such as spirit, desire, dream, longing, fantasy, vision, thought, memory and inspiration.
Utopia dress
Then, a couple of black and white sparkling frocks, one covered of glitter and a wire net, the other one encircled in a round neon piped structure stole the attention from the guests. Until we stopped to stare, the fantastic, enchanting bright purple corset, with a giant and wispy skirt made by candid crumpled up bows, looked like moving butterflies.
Neon dress
Neon dress
The magnificent neon gown
On the upper level of the climb of the hill, three flag Italian colored dresses were anchored, and next to them, on arduous spots,
beautiful bridal-like dresses had the characteristic to swiftly change colors, naturally all rendered by neon lights.
Green neon dress
White neon dress
Red neon dress
Focusing on nature, trees were illuminated by purple rays and hues, while on the clearing of one of the main towers, a house layout called FULGIDA was recreated with golden and bright lights, in order to guide people coming from the area below. That clear masterpiece stood up to undoubtedly symbolise the great Italian architecture and design that still lead the international taste.
Trees in purple lights
Fulgida
If you would like to participate next year, it would be better to follow the
Facebook page of Cidneon and be prepared to deal with quite cold weather and breeze.
