Any Brescian born in the 80s would recognize this logo at first sight, because between the late 90s and early 2000s the sticker was stuck everywhere: on the fairings of mopeds, on the «Smemo», on the street lamps. The people of the night at the beginning of the new millennium know it: the palm tree with the sun is the historic symbol of disco in Florida. “The Flo”, as regular customers called him, “the brightest star in the disco universe”, as he called himself in his heyday.
This year the legendary restaurant on Via Montichiari in Ghedi turns 50. Fifty, it’s impressive just to say. Especially those former youngsters who spent there not only the evenings but also the Sunday afternoons: for thousands of Brescian, an unavoidable collective rite of passage.
The Florida logo sticker – photo from www.ebay.it
What Florida was like, between dance and hardcore
Florida nightclub opened 1973, but the founders Giuseppe Scalvenzi and Patrizio Tinti They had already founded the business three years earlier: a sports club with swimming pools and tennis courts. “We started with just one room,” Tinti explains, and then we gradually expanded it. In the 2000s we reached i 4000 square meter extension, with five ballrooms, including the Divina Dimora on the mezzanine». Tiziano Scalvenzi, brother of the founder and current managing director, recalls: “On Sunday afternoon there were also 300-400 scooters in the parking lot, we were a point of reference.” Outside, the infamous iron dome has been dismantled, but the UFO structure is still there: a Scenography that once set a giant flying saucer in motion with strobe lights.
Between hardcore and dance, some archive photos from Florida
We go inside, next to the ticket office where there was a queue for the 10,000 lire ticket. left behind “Happy Music Room”, reserved for 80’s disco, just close your eyes and the smoke machine will light up. Memories come up again. In “commercial hall” Bare belly buttons and loads of glitter on their eyelids, the girls ask for the songs of the moment, dictating precise dedications to DJs Bislo and Freccia. Gigi D’Agostino, Billy More and Gabry Ponte fill the air, already filled with walks, cigarettes on the sofas (the Sirchia law, 2005, is still pure fantasy) and glasses with condensation. The crowd at the bar conjures up cocktails that few bartenders today could replicate, most notably Blue Angel and B52. Young and old crowd the corridor that leads to what looks like another planet in every way: the «Hardcore Room».
There hardcore techno music, born around 1990 in Northern Europe, is a genre characterized by the use of drum machines (electronic instrument that reproduces the sound of percussion, the best instrument is the Roland TR-909) and distortion. In the years that followed, from its initial merger in private radio stations to its spread across the continent, hardcore has developed numerous subcategories. The gabber movement It brings together people listening to the hardcore dance “Hakken”: in Italy, Florida has been a point of reference.
The gabber subculture
Nico & Tetta in an archive photo in the hardcore room in Florida – © www.giornaledibrescia.it
In Ghedi’s hardcore room, the teens wear their hair in a high ponytail and are shaved at the nape and sides. The boys (cropped or crested) wear Australian designer sweatshirts and Nike Air Max shoes on their feet. No random brands: the Gabber style has precise rules of style.
Gabber isn’t just a way of dancing, it’s an authentic identity that transcends the frenetic rhythm of 180 beats per minute. Originating from the Netherlands, the gabber subculture is synonymous with Escapism, rebellion and escapelinked to dance hook committed for hours (at raves often associated with the use of synthetic drugs).
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And in Florida he found one of his temples in Italy, also thanks Nico & Tetta (Nicola Sbalzer and Daniele Ferrari): duo of hardcore music producers born in Brescia in 1999, who became and remained resident DJ at the Ghedi disco, but at the same time established themselves all over the world. “We’ve played in Germany, Holland, Spain, Russia, Australia and the United States,” tells us Ferrari, who is also the organizer of the big event that will celebrate Flo’s half-century on September 30: “Once Upon a Time in Florida” Entry is prohibited for children under the age of 25 (15 euros). “We decided to organize this revival for those who really lived through those years. There will be many guests present, including historical and current DJs, but we cannot reveal names,” commented Ferrari.
How is Florida today?
The evenings at Florida di Ghedi move between different music genres
The place had to reinvent itself today, become multifunctional. “It is unthinkable to repeat the numbers of the past”, specifies Scalvenzi, “but we have renewed ourselves”. We welcome different evenings with different musical styles: from Latin (Puerto Rican, salsa, bachata, kizomba) to rap and to Hardcore.” The capacity of the disco was reduced, also to meet the increasingly strict safety regulations. “We used to be able to have a lot more people, today it’s 1,500 inside at most.” Let’s put it that way Bureaucracy doesn’t help: very strict for dance clubs like us and much milder elsewhere, where more controls would be needed instead».
The calendar of evenings is still very rich. “From here many VIPs have passed away – Think of the owners – from the start. From the most famous national DJs to actors and the phenomena of the moment. The evenings with Pietro Taricone and Raz Degan were unforgettable, the audience loved it.” Even today there is no shortage of certificates of recognition: last February, the singer Rema received the gold record here for his song “Calm down”. “And he gave it to us,” they tell us in unison, pointing to the picture hanging in the office.
Patrizio Tinti, Daniele Febbrari (DJ Tetta) and Tiziano Scalvenzi – Photo Gabriele Strada/Neg © www.giornaledibrescia.it
The other huge nightclubs
The years between the 1990s and 2000s were the era of mass discotheques. Huge spaces that are attractive and inviting Thousands of people, including from outside the province. “I’ve always worked in the club world and I remember that back then there were four big discos, poles of nightlife,” explains Alberto Peretti, DJ and producer, known by the stage name Dr. Space, “regular” (permanent guest) at the circus of Brescia and every weekend also at the helm of other clubs in the province. “Three of these giants still exist, even though the market has changed a lot. I am the Number one in Corte Franca, the Florida in Ghedi and the paradise in Brescia, in the San Polo district. And then there was this genux (later Dehor) in Lonato del Garda, known as the largest discotheque in the world and now in ruins».
Number One was also a hardcore capital, attracting thousands of people in the evenings. Among his most famous DJs is Claudio Lancinhouse (pseudonym of Claudio Lancini, originally from Adro). “I remember dozens of buses from all over Italy in the parking lot, an influx never seen again except at the major festivals – explains Peretti -. No matter what beach you vacationed on in the summer, if you said you were from Brescia, the answer was always: “Where is the number?” An institution that exists to this day and is run by the entrepreneur Steven Basalarialso owner of Qi Clubbing in Erbusco, as well as influencer with more than half a million followers on Instagram.
The entrance to number one in Corte Franca – © www.giornaledibrescia.it
In the hardcore scenario, as mentioned, the Florida star still shines, but where commercial and dance music also finds a place, as was the case with Genux. Il Paradiso, on the other hand, had and still has an older audience, thanks to the spaces reserved for ballroom and Latin American dances.
The smaller rooms
“It was then a galaxy of satellite locations, which gave smaller but incredible numbers compared to today’s numbers,” continues Dr. Space. “Unforgettable For a in Lonato, which was very popular as a venue for theatrical and artistic performances. A unique case in Italian club life that welcomed the summer circus and then became No Name. closure in 2012″.
Queue at the entrance to Mazoom/Le Plaisir in an archive photo – © www.giornaledibrescia.it
Many attended Mazoom Le Plaisir in Desenzano (the name changed depending on the night) where house music was the most popular. “There was more choice at the entrance, without shirts the men could do without queuing.” The White Trash evening, where it was compulsory to wear white, is famous and very popular.” There were others around these big names smaller but no less trendy: Cantinaccia, Nuba, Dlq (Behind the scenes) around town and Shibuya (formerly Sport Cafè and before that America) in Rezzato.
Finally was founded in 1999 and is still on the wave of success circus of Via Dalmazia in Brescia: “It used to be a niche, now it is still the place of reference in the city, among those that are still sold out.” He followed the style of the Pineta in Milano Marittima, playing a fashion house to which he then, over time, something of everything approximated.”
The end of the era of big nightclubs
Debris in the former Genux area after demolition
But why are certain numbers no longer registered in clubs, even large ones? The factors that have led to the downsizing of the “great disco phenomenon” are manifold, but perhaps one was decisive above all: theIntroduction of the points license in 2003. “Fortunately, the severe measures imposed by the Highway Code in 2003 have contributed a lot to road safety,” comments Peretti, “but they have certainly also affected the masses of passengers willing to clock up kilometers at the weekend.” The ax of the licenses becomes withdrawn immediately if the worst comes to the worst driving drunk (so today the zero tolerance) has sensitized motorists and at the same time reduced trips to the discotheques on Saturday evenings. DJ Tetta also agrees on this point, but adds: “The advent of social networks has changed the habits of the youngest. In order to see and get to know each other, you don’t have to (or so they think) go to the disco anymore.” .
“Then the globalization of music, with the emergence of large digital platforms such as YouTube (2005) or Spotify (2006), discouraged anyone who goes to clubs to listen to a specific genre of music and dance. Today one click is enough, everything is standardized and even a little flattened».
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