The charm of history, the comfort of technology.
An enchanting atmosphere with constant references to a thousand-year history and glimpses of glorious surrounding landscapes. The Visconti Fortress of Cassano d'Adda offers all this in one place. A building which was built in the year one thousand and which recounts a history of noble families and characters belonging to the aristocracy of Lombardy.
Imposing walls – protecting what once was the residence of the Visconti and Sforza families – defend the castle which overlooks the Muzza canal, a tributary of the River Adda, on the valley side. Inside, a courtyard covered with Serizzo paving stone provides the best view of the wide porch, with its succession of arches, supports the rooms on the upper floor.
For this recently restored fortress is now a 4-star hotel. Featuring thirty rooms furnished to the highest standards and designed to offer every possible comfort, the hotel also consists of several multi-purpose rooms, each of which has been named with a character whose life story is closely intertwined with the history of castle. Structured so that it can be arranged to accommodate different types of events, particularly conferences and meetings, all are highly computerised and equipped with teleconferencing systems and high definition video projectors.
To manage this multi-faceted and complex structure, where the functionality of the meeting spaces must satisfy the needs of its guests, the Well-contact system by Vimar is the ideal solution to meet these high performance requirements.
The front desk now functions as a veritable control room, where it is possible to control via computer – through a user friendly interface – all the areas of the hotel. Lights, climate, automation and access – to the rooms and to the multi-purpose halls – everything is under control and nothing escapes this automated and intelligent management system, which allows time and resources to be optimised in the pursuit of all-round comfort.
It is therefore possible to check the status of the lights and the climate in each room, intervening when necessary, and – thanks to the electronic card reader pockets – the presence of either the guest or service staff in the room is acknowledged and indicated outside on the LEDs of the access reader installed next to the massive wooden doors.
Rooms and suites follow on from one another in a series of corridors and large windowed arches reminiscent of the medieval remains of the castle, all united by fine furnishings specially developed by master craftsmen, ready to accommodate the Vimar devices. Like the beds, where the switches that control lighting and automation are embedded in the leather headboards.
A truly unique combination which is both sophisticated and contemporary, where technology and art come together in a harmonious blend. Like in the multi-purpose halls, where alongside the beautiful paintings that adorn the walls are the clearly visible Vimar devices framed in the Eikon Reflex model plaques in the colour graphite. The data sockets, for example, allow clients to surf the internet and exchange information in utmost security, offering discerning guests total internal and external connection.
In this context, one of the strengths of the Well-contact system is the ease of installation of the devices. The preparation of the system in fact required no invasive or harmful work on the historical and artistic components of the castle. Vimar devices based on the KNX standard do not require special wiring and can be installed without the need for structural work, as simple connection to a bus line is all that is required. The system can also be extended over time and the KNX protocol means that devices from other manufacturers that comply with this international standard can be added at any time.
Thus, as evening falls, the Fortress acquires a truly impressive appearance. Special lighting effects provided by a system of LED spotlights positioned along the perimeter of the courtyard form a spectacle of a thousand shades and tones. And as the fog from the river in the valley begins to rise and slowly permeate the air, the atmosphere becomes more and more surreal. It is not at all difficult to let your imagination take you back to a time, when gentlemen and dames paced around these same areas. Areas that Vimar technology has helped restore their former glory.
System installation: Elettroimpianti of Roberto Biglia
Hotel management system: Well-contact
Home Series: Eikon
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