Theme park · Valmontone, Rome · 2011

Rainbow MagicLand.

The park Iginio Straffi created to give his animated characters a physical body. For its opening we delivered the fibreglass replicas of four major attractions — Cagliostro, Yucatan, Huntik, Maison Houdini — plus the Gattobaleno mascot, the Winx statues and the entire Pixie Houses village.

Story

Client

Rainbow Spa

The Italian animation studio founded by Iginio Straffi in Loreto in 1995 — author of Winx Club (2004) and a dozen other sagas exported around the world: Huntik, PopPixie, Monster Allergy. In 2011 Straffi and his partners open the park with a very specific goal — to give all their characters a physical home. The fairies of Alfea, of course, but also the Titan seekers of Huntik, the child fairies of PopPixie, the other heroes of the studio.

"The capital of fun" — the park's official claim

"I dreamed of creating a place where
my characters could come to life
— now the dream becomes reality."

Iginio Straffi park opening, 25 May 2011

Act one

A physical home
for the Rainbow characters.

Rainbow is the first Italian animation studio — a universe of characters exported to one hundred and thirty countries. Winx at the top of the chart (over sixty million euros of annual revenue), but also Huntik, PopPixie, Monster Allergy. Cartoons that live only on screen.

Iginio Straffi's insight is to bring them all into the same physical home. Together with Alfa Park Srl of Mario Dora (formerly Mirabilandia) he starts an investment of three hundred million euros to open a theme park in Valmontone, thirty kilometres south of Rome. Six hundred thousand square metres — sixty hectares, fifty thousand covered, 5,500 parking spaces.

On 25 May 2011 the park opens to the public as Rainbow MagicLand, claim "The capital of fun." Thirty-five opening attractions. Two are world "firsts": Huntik, an interactive dark ride, and Cagliostro, an indoor spinning coaster. We delivered the scenography on both.

Yucatan in final construction phase: entrance gate of the pre-Columbian area with Mayan statues framing an attraction's slide, winter sky, load-bearing structure visible — Yucatan in final construction phase — the pre-Columbian area gate

Huntik gate photographed on 25 February 2011: large red amulet sculpted with four coloured gemstones at the centre (red, white, blue, green), metal semicircles with mechanical details and faux-stone finishes framing it, blue sky — Huntik, 25 February 2011 — the gate with the Titans' amulet

Act two

Six worlds
out of the workshops.

For Rainbow MagicLand we worked on seven projects: the fibreglass scenographic replicas for the four major attractions Cagliostro, Yucatan, Huntik, Maison Houdini; the park's official mascot, the Gattobaleno; the six Winx statues in full round; the entire Pixie Houses village in the Little Kingdom. Everything delivered and installed before the non-negotiable opening date of 25 May 2011.

Each piece is born in our workshops and goes through the same cycle: hand-sculpted clay or polystyrene, stiffened in fibreglass, finished and painted one colour at a time. For the Gattobaleno, a two-and-a-half metre cartoon mascot. For the Winx statues, the direct heritage of the polychrome portraits of the Roman school from Sixties Cinecittà. For the Huntik gate, the red amulet with four gemstones and the mechanical semicircles all around. For Maison Houdini, the visionary architecture of the façades — the gate with the "MH" monogram, the turquoise domes, the bronze characters walking vertically on the walls.

All the park's fibreglass scenographies have a double life. They are unique pieces, made by hand, but destined for a huge collective work — a theme park attraction includes load-bearing structures, paths, technical installations, work by other specialised companies. Our piece of the chain is the visible skin: what the visitor sees, touches, photographs. The scenographic surface that turns a mechanical attraction into a world.

Gattobaleno in the Creation Art workshops: the Rainbow MagicLand mascot, two-and-a-half metre anthropomorphic orange cat, holds a white disc in his left hand and a vinyl record in his right, rainbow blue-and-green striped tail, green base, industrial shed in the background — The completed Gattobaleno, official park mascot

Maison Houdini under construction on 4 February 2011: entrance gate with large 'MH' monogram sculpted at the centre, gold and golden details, side tower with turquoise pointed dome, baroque scenographic decorations, blue sky — Maison Houdini, 4 February 2011 — the gate with the "MH" monogram

Maison Houdini on 26 April 2011: yellow Escher-style castle with green spired towers, inverted windows on the sides, painting of Escher's 'Relativity' lithograph on the side wall, sculpted bronze characters walking vertically on the walls — Maison Houdini, 26 April 2011 — the declared homage to Escher

Seven projects, one team

What we delivered.

Seven works out of our workshops for the opening of Rainbow MagicLand: the fibreglass replicas of four major attractions — Cagliostro, Yucatan, Huntik, Maison Houdini — plus the official Gattobaleno mascot, the six Winx statues, the Pixie Houses village. For each one, a dedicated page.

Behind the scenes

The park today
is no longer called like that.

The photos from our archive go back to 2010-2011 — the construction phase and the first opening season, when the park was still owned by Iginio Straffi's Rainbow Spa and was called Rainbow MagicLand. In January 2019 the park was acquired by Pillarstone Italy, a platform of the US fund KKR, and renamed simply MagicLand. The Winx brand has been gradually removed, the Castle of Alfea reconverted to "Cosmo Academy", the statues of the fairies taken out of the squares. The scenographies we delivered in those years — Cagliostro, Yucatan, Maison Houdini, the Pixie Houses, the Gattobaleno — keep living in the park today, under the new ownership.

In 2025 the park — today MagicLand — celebrates its 15 years of activity. It remains the largest amusement park in central-southern Italy, under the official claim "The capital of fun." Next to it the water area MagicSplash has opened, a sub-brand operated by the same ownership.

7 scenographic works delivered by Creation Art for the park · 4 fibreglass attractions + mascot + Winx Statues + Pixie Houses

600,000 m² park surface · 60 hectares · the largest amusement park in central-southern Italy

15 years of activity celebrated in 2025 · today MagicLand under Pillarstone Italy (KKR) · over 40 attractions

Tech sheet

All production data

Type: Theme park · scenographic deliveries on seven parallel projects
Location: Valmontone (Rome) · 30 km south of Rome · A1 Valmontone exit
Public opening: 25 May 2011 · construction mainly in 2010-2011
Park development: Rainbow Spa (Iginio Straffi) + Alfa Park Srl of Mario Dora (formerly Mirabilandia)
Winx identity (2011-2018 era): Original Rainbow/Winx brand palette: magenta/fuchsia, yellow, cyan. The six fairies starring in the series: Bloom, Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna, Aisha. Branding gradually removed from the park after 2019.
MagicLand identity (today): Current brand institutional palette: navy blue #003851 (header, footer, strong text) · orange #FF9900 (call-to-action, energy) · azure #1F8FCF (secondary, MagicSplash sub-brand). Institutional font: Futura.
Park claim: "The capital of fun" · in use today on the logo and on the homepage of magicland.it
Anniversary: 15 years of activity celebrated in 2025 · "15 Anniversary" logo next to the main brand
Dimensions: 600,000 m² (60 hectares) · of which ~50,000 m² covered · 5,500 parking spaces
Initial investment: 300 million euros · ~2,000 expected jobs
Opening attractions: 35 attractions · more than 40 today · 3 theatres · 28 food outlets
World firsts: Huntik (interactive dark ride, "world first") · Cagliostro (indoor spinning coaster, "first in Italy") · both with scenography by Creation Art
Ownership change: January 2019: Rainbow Spa exits the capital. The park is acquired by Pillarstone Italy, a platform of the US fund KKR for bank distressed assets. CEO/General Manager Guido Zucchi (formerly Parques Reunidos). A relaunch investment of ~40 million euros is announced. The Winx/Rainbow brand is gradually removed, the park renamed simply MagicLand.
Media appearances: Netflix series Luna Park (2021) · film Me contro Te — Persi nel tempo (2022) shot at the park
Our role: Seven parallel projects for the opening of the park. Verbatim quote from our historical portfolio: "Fibreglass replicas for the Cagliostro, Yucatan, Huntik and Maison Hudini attractions. Not to forget the park mascot, the Gattobaleno." To these are added the six Winx statues sculpted in full round — Bloom, Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna, Aisha — and the entire Pixie Houses village in the Little Kingdom. All the works came out of our workshops in the Roman Castles over a production span of about eighteen months between the end of 2009 and May 2011.

Rainbow MagicLand.

Rainbow Spa

The Winx Statues

Pixie Houses

Cagliostro

Yucatan

Huntik

Maison Houdini

Gattobaleno

The park todayis no longer called like that.

The park today
is no longer called like that.