Villafranca Festival presents a wide-ranging programme of live performances within the historic walls of Castello Scaligero, one of northern Italy’s most distinctive open-air venues.
For the 2026 edition, the sound system remains installed throughout the festival, supporting a diverse line-up that includes The Darkness, Airbourne, Litfiba, Goran Bregović, Blue, Marco Masini, Nek, Fiorella Mannoia, Madame, Gio Evan and Enrico Nigiotti.
The system, supplied by Showtime Verona, is configured with RCF solutions designed to meet the acoustic requirements of a courtyard enclosed by medieval walls.
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The venue offers an architectural setting of great value, while also presenting specific challenges, such as managing reflections from the perimeter walls. In addition, for a system designed for a festival, the ability to adapt from one show to the next while maintaining coverage, consistency and reliability is essential, said Luca Modesti, owner of Showtime Verona.
"Inside a venue such as Castello Scaligero, system control is as important as system power", explained Lucio Boiardi Serri, Application Engineer at RCF, who was on-site for system start-up and commissioning. "I designed the system using our RDShape acoustic prediction software, producing a complete rigging and simulation report before arriving on-site. Once on location, during setup, RDNet control software allowed us to work precisely on EQ, delay and low-frequency behaviour".
The main system consists of 18 RCF HDL 30-A line array modules per side, flown at a height of 11 metres. Two outfill arrays, each composed of 10 HDL 26-A modules, provide side coverage. To manage high-frequency behaviour inside the courtyard, the main arrays were divided into four HF control zones.
This configuration allowed us to apply specific equalisation and air-absorption compensation parameters, helping to maintain intelligibility throughout the listening area while reducing unnecessary energy directed towards reflective surfaces, continued Boiardi Serri.
Low-frequency coverage is provided by 18 RCF SUB 9029-AS dual 19-inch active subwoofers, arranged on the ground in nine groups of two units. The system was configured with an on-site optimised cardioid preset, with the upper module oriented towards the stage.
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"This configuration was implemented to reduce low-frequency build-up in the performance area and provide a cleaner stage environment for artists, monitor engineers and backliners", explained Boiardi Serri. "To improve horizontal consistency across the audience area, the physical straight-line arrangement was electronically curved using calculated delay values, reducing the concentration of the central lobe and improving energy distribution throughout the audience area".
Front-fill coverage for the first five metres of the audience area is provided by 10 RCF HDL 26-A modules, arranged in five groups of two modules each.
This is our first venue with this configuration, and the results have been excellent. HDL systems are established line arrays, recognised internationally for their reliability and sound quality, so we were confident in our choice. The combination with the new SUB 9029-AS, recently introduced to the market, together with the highly precise optimisation possibilities offered by RDNet, allowed us to achieve a level of quality with which we are extremely satisfied, concluded Modesti.
