Welcome to The Rides District!

30 October 2024 Off By Facto Edizioni

/ A new edition of the annual Meeting della Giostra (Rides Meeting) took place this month in the towns of Bergantino, Melara, and Calto, in the province of Rovigo, Italy /

Italy is known for its outstanding production excellence, often driven by medium-small local enterprises. Each area has its own specialty, which is represented in “industrial districts,” a unique feature of the Italian manufacturing sector. To explain, a district is a cluster of companies in a defined area, specialized in one or more stages of a production process and connected by economic and social ties.

For example, the most notable industrial districts in Italy include the Chair District, in the province of Udine, in the heart of Friuli Venezia Giulia region; in Lombardy, the city of Como hosts the Silk District, the Brianza geographic area is the Furniture District.

In Veneto, in the northeast of the country, you’ll find the Eyewear District in Belluno and the Leather and Gold Districts in Vicenza. Moving down the country, in the Marche region, the town of Fermo is the heart of the Footwear District.

For the carousel district we go back to the Veneto region, in an area encompassed by the small towns of Bergantino, Melara, and Calto, in the Polesine geographic region. This area, home to barely 15,000 inhabitants, has been the cradle of Italy’s amusement rides industry since the 1950s and is a significant international reference point. Here, in just a few square kilometers, around 70 medium-small or even artisanal companies are clustered, producing rides and components (metal structures, lights, sound systems, trailers, scenery, airbrushed decorations, caravans, fireworks, etc.) with a focus on innovation and technological excellence that has won over the world for decades. The rides and other products from the Rides District are exported globally, generating an annual turnover of 250 million euros, sold to amusement parks (permanent and traveling), malls, resorts, and other recreational venues on all continents.

To promote and showcase this district, the CNA Association of Padua and Rovigo, together with the Veneto Region and VenicePromex, and supported by the Venice-Rovigo Chamber of Commerce and the municipalities of Bergantino, Melara, and Calto, has organized an annual event for over 20 years: the Meeting della Giostra (Rides Meeting). This event hosts international industry operators (potential buyers) for a few days, giving them a chance to discover the district’s companies, products, and underlying culture.

This year, the Meeting took place from October 20 to 24, with about 15 guests from 9 European and non-European countries. The guests were taken on guided tours to the facilities of 10 manufacturers in the district (in alphabetical order: ACN, Elettronica Industriale Losi, Fabbri Group, Lights Co., Milani, Park Rides, Rides Garage, Soriani, Technical Park, and Tiziano Casse). Here, they observed rides either under construction, ready for testing, or completed and awaiting shipment. Guests also met managers, learned about company histories and future plans, exchanged impressions with colleagues and suppliers, and received answers to questions and curiosities.

“Many of these companies I knew only by name or had seen at some trade shows,” one guest commented. “I never imagined I would visit ‘their home’ and be welcomed so warmly, nor did I expect to discover such a unique reality as the Rides District.” Another guest remarked, “It’s one thing to browse a nice brochure and quite another to witness those products being made, breathe in the factory smells, touch the bolts and rails, and talk directly with the creators.”

“Kudos to the organizers of this event,” another guest added. “It fosters commercial ties but also bonds of friendship, peace, and hospitality, which are so essential in today’s world.”

Beyond factory tours, the Meeting della Giostra included the Golden Pony^® Awards gala, the 26th edition of what is considered the leisure industry Oscars and created by Facto Edizioni (see the report on the following pages). Not to be missed was also a guided tour of the Historical Museum of the Carousel and Traveling Shows in Bergantino. In the museum, guests embarked on an enlightening journey through the origins and evolution of popular street entertainment and learned why so many attraction-related businesses are historically based in this area of Italy.

The Meeting also served as an opportunity for territorial marketing, highlighting the broader culture of the Polesine area. This included a visit to Villa Badoer in Fratta Polesine, a mid-16th-century villa designed by the famous architect Andrea Palladio. The visit to the Tomanin Art Glassworks was also highly praised as here the ancient glassmaking art is revived to create wonders like Tiffany lamps, glass paintings, and leaded stained glass. A notable piece from this lab is a reproduction of the upper sections of the 3 west-facing stained-glass windows of Chartres Cathedral in France, a project that took years of work and was executed following medieval master guidelines, now showcased in national and international exhibitions.

The visit to the Molino Al Pizzon Eco-Museum was equally moving. This 19th-century water-powered mill, which operated until the mid-20th century, is a gem of industrial archaeology. Guests explored the site with a guide who described the ancient machinery still present and explained the wheat and corn milling process from that era.