iESPRITE overhead, iFORTE out front: the Robe formula for the 'Stadi 26' tour

Italian pop superstar and singer-songwriter Tiziano Ferro is touring sold-out stadiums across Italy with his Stadi 26 tour, featuring a striking lighting design by Giovanni Pinna.

The production features nearly 150 moving lights and 3 Robe RoboSpot remote followspot systems, all operated on tour by lighting director Marco Zucchinali.

The show has a strong video component. Comix, the London-based multidisciplinary studio founded by Harry Bird, created the playback video content, while the IMAG mix is directed by acclaimed Italian television and multi-camera director Cristian Biondani, known for his innovative work with MTV, RAI and Eurovision. The overall creative director is Claudio Santucci from Milan-based multidisciplinary design and architecture studio Giò Forma, which is also responsible for the set and stage design.

Giovanni worked to create the precise onstage visual aesthetic sought by the creative team. The production features a 60-metre-wide by 12-metre-high LED screen positioned upstage, with central sliding door panels for entrances and exits, as well as a 20-metre thrust extending from the front of the stage, allowing the artist to move out into the audience and perform much closer to the spectators.

I needed the brightest and highest-quality light sources for this design. That's why I chose 80 iESPRITE LTLs, 40 iFORTE Fresnels and 24 iFORTE LTXs as the backbone of the rig, explains Giovanni.

The tour's lighting equipment is supplied by Agorà, while PRG is responsible for the automation.

The tour's setlist includes more than 30 songs and forms a carefully constructed retrospective of Ferro's eventful 25-year music career, tracing his evolution through R'n'B, pop and urban music, as well as the development of his distinctive style and his success as one of the most prominent Italian recording artists of all time. During this same period, the artist has also faced and overcome a number of personal battles.

With the release of Ferro's new album, Sono un grande, at the end of 2025, this tour represents a new, fresh and positive chapter looking towards the future.

The physical lighting design is straightforward and comprises 10 trusses, each 10 metres long, positioned above the stage. Five of them are automated, although they are used primarily in static positions. This configuration allows the over-stage architecture to be instantly transformed by moving the trusses into different positions.

The 10 trusses are arranged in straight lines of five, one above another, with a 2-metre offset between them, with the lower trusses being automated.

For the moving trusses, Giovanni chose the iESPRITE LTLs. All 80 units of this model are deployed across these trusses, eight on each one and spaced 1.25 metres apart. This tight spacing is deliberate, as Giovanni wanted to create an aesthetic dominated by sharply defined beams, similar to that of a large electronic or dance music event.

Each truss also features 4 iFORTE Fresnels. This is the first time Giovanni has used these fixtures on a touring rig, and he liked them so much that he also used 32 iFORTE Profiles and 4 iFORTE LTXs for Vasco Rossi's 2026 stadium tour, which ran simultaneously with the Tiziano tour during its first month and was also operated by him. “They are astonishing fixtures!”, he comments. The lighting look for Tiziano Ferro is simple, symmetrical and powerful.

I love simplicity, and with fixtures as powerful and flexible as the iESPRITEs and iFORTE Fresnels, I have everything I need to create excellent dynamics and plenty of drama and style, notes Giovanni.

He also explains that these large, high-impact lighting looks perfectly complement all the video action taking place on the screens.

The tour's overhead lighting concept also works in harmony with the floor lighting package, where fixtures are rigged in ballet-style side positions to highlight the band, dancers and performers, while also providing precise, defined low-level cross-lighting looks.

The thrust extending from downstage centre ends in an 8 x 4-metre plexiglass-floor B Stage, illuminated entirely from below.

The 24 iFORTE LTXs are used for front lighting and provide the only front lighting apart from some additional followspots. They are installed on two 12-metre-high FOH towers positioned 55 metres from the downstage edge of the stage. According to Giovanni, these long throws are “ideal for the reach and impact” of the iFORTE LTX. The designer also used the LTX version of the iFORTE for key lighting duties on the Vasco Rossi tour. The iFORTE LTXs are arranged in two rows on the FOH towers and mounted on a custom-built frame. As a counterbalance, an array of PA delays is installed on the opposite side and aimed to cover the rear of the grandstands.

The three-position RoboSpot system controls two iFORTE LTXs dedicated to following the artists throughout the show, plus an additional unit for guest artist pickups. The RoboSpot BaseStations are positioned at FOH, behind the lighting console, when the FOH area is centrally located. When a dual FOH setup is used, two are positioned stage left on the FOH sound platform and one stage right at the FOH lighting position. These fixtures and positions are essential to the show, which is being enjoyed by Ferro's diverse and enthusiastic fanbase, delighted to see their hero clearly illuminated as he delivers a brilliant and authentic performance.

Giovanni and Marco Zucchinali worked on every aspect of the show during previsualisation and rehearsals. Giovanni has enjoyed the close collaboration with the video department, both with Comix on the playback content and on the camera mix, as well as working with Notch live effects on D3 and with the cameras, integrating all these elements into a coherent visual environment.

Giovanni also brought in Marco “Made” De Nardi, a highly experienced lighting designer, to assist during the rehearsal period and the first shows, when he was unable to attend in person due to his commitments on the Vasco Rossi tour.

The positioning of the FOH towers also required collaboration with the audio department, “so there was a lot of teamwork involved, but as always, this brings out the best in everyone and naturally delivers great results for the artist”.

For the video elements to work as effectively as possible in this live environment, the lighting has to be highly specific and precise, “and that was our goal from the very beginning with this design”, explains Giovanni.

The biggest creative challenge was undoubtedly the strong interaction between automation, screens and lighting, as well as ensuring that these disciplines worked in perfect harmony. This required a significant amount of interdisciplinary planning and thought, which is paying off as the tour continues to impress audiences and critics alike, establishing Stadi 26 as one of Tiziano Ferro's best shows to date.

Image credits: Marco Zucchinali