The largest agri-food park in the world backs RCF

FICO Eataly World, the largest agri-food park in the world covering more than 100,000 mq, and located just outside Bologna, was opened on 15 November 2017. The new park showcases 150 Italian food companies to an estimated 6 million visitors. The Fabbrica Italiana COntadina (FICO) Eataly World has two ambitious goals: to attract visitors from all over the world, and to represent Italy with all its top-quality products and biodiversity, mixing Italy's food and wine traditions with innovation and research in the agri-food sector.

The park, jointly managed by the two major Italian food players, Eataly andCoop, includes 2 hectares of fields and open-air stalls, and 8 hectares hosting: 40 factories; 40 shops, markets, and eateries; areas dedicated to sport, children, reading, and services; 6 classrooms; 6 large, educational "fairgrounds", a theatre and cinema; a modular conference centre for 50to 1000 people and a Foundation with 3 universities.

RCF was involved in the design of the whole EN54-compliant audio and evac system, all based on the DXT 9000 digital multi-platform system and a huge number of indoor and outdoor speakers. The four RCF DXT 9000 main control units exchange the huge amount of audio data and control information over an optical Dante network.

RCF was involved in the design of the whole EN54-compliant audio and evac system

The audio project began in 2016 from the RCF Engineering Support Group and ended a few months before the inauguration in November 2017, with the certification of the plant by the competent authority. The system is available throughout the complete indoor and outdoor area. Following a specific request from Eataly World, the background music covers fields and open-air stalls.

While paging and voice-evacuation are the primary uses, the DXT 9000 is also used to interface pro-audio active speakers for background music. Active loudspeakers can be combined together with 70V/100V line amplifiers on the same dedicated network, and all system amplification is class-D+ (unique to RCF) with industrial-grade reliability, high efficiency and audio quality and a small installation footprint.