Antonio Zamperla S.p.A. is an Italian design and manufacturing company founded in 1966. It is best known for creating family rides, thrill rides and

roller coaster A roller coaster is a type of list of amusement rides, amusement ride employing a form of elevated Railway track, railroad track that carries passengers on a roller coaster train, train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements, usua ...

s worldwide. The company also makes smaller coin-operated rides commonly found inside shopping malls. Zamperla builds

s, like the powered Dragon Coaster, Mini Mouse, Zig Zag, and Volare. In 2006, Zamperla announced Motocoaster, a motorcycle-themed roller coaster. Rights to some of S.D.C.'s rides were handed to Zamperla (along with S&C and S&MC) after the company went bankrupt in 1993. In 2005, the founder of the company, Mr. Antonio Zamperla, became the first Italian to be inducted into the IAAPA Hall of Fame by virtue of his significant contribution to the entire industry, joining other pioneers such as Walt Disney, George Ferris and Walter Knott. Unlike companies such as Intamin, Vekoma, or Bolliger & Mabillard that concentrate on larger and faster roller coasters, Zamperla focuses on more family-friendly roller coasters that can be easily mass-produced, taken down, and transported to different locations. They are also a major manufacturer of flat rides with such names as: Balloon Race, Bumper cars, Disk'O,

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, giant wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondola ...

, Water Flume Ride, Galleon/Swinging Ship, Sky Drop,

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

, Windshear, Tornado, Energy Storm, Z-Force, Mixer, Rotoshake, Turbo Force, Power Surge, Mini Jet, and Air Race.

Company structure

The company is organized in different departments, the Art Department that works on the study and creation of different themings of the rides, the Technical Department that designs the engineering of the attractions, the Production Department that handles their realization, the Sales Department, the Customer Care and the Park Development Department that works on the design and creation of an amusement park.

Projects

In 2010 Antonio Zamperla S.p.A. and Central Amusement International (CAI), managed by Alessandro Zamperla, a grandson of Antonio Zamperla and Alberto Zamperla, restored and renovated the Coney Island area in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The company managed Coney Island's Luna Park and installed only Zamperla rides. From 2003 to 2019, Zamperla transformed the Trump Organization's Wollman Rink, within New York City's

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

, into Victorian Gardens, a traditional-style amusement park with rides like the "Family Swinger", "Samba Balloon", "Aeromax", "Convoy", "Rocking Tug", "Kite Flyer". The park closed in 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Another famous Zamperla project is Kernwasser, north of Düsseldorf, a former nuclear power station that was turned into an amusement park called Wunderland Kalkar. In August 2023, it was announced that Zamperla was hired to redesign the former Top Thrill Dragster roller coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, renamed Top Thrill 2, which opened to the public on Saturday, May 4th, 2024, as the tallest and fastest triple-launch coaster in the world, with a vertical spike and top hat both reaching 420 feet and a top speed of 120 miles per hour. The ride starts with a 74-mile per hour forward launch up the top hat hill, before rolling backward into a 101-mile per hour reverse launch into a 420-foot 90-degree spike, followed by a 120-mile per hour launch up and over the top hat. The coaster was quickly shut down for design modifications and did not reopen in the 2024 season.

Gallery

Image:Wheel of the Pioneers - Minitalia Leolandia Park.jpg, Ruota dei Pionieri, Minitalia Leolandia Park,

Province of Bergamo The province of Bergamo (; ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Bergamo. The province has a population of 1,103,768 (2023), an area of , and contains 242 ''comune, comuni'' (municipali ...

, Lombardy, Italy Image:Road-runner-express-great-escape.jpg, Frankie's Mine Train, a kiddie coaster at The Great Escape Image:Xtreme-Supernova Great-Escape.JPG, The Extreme Supernova is a relocated Zamperla Midi Discovery that was installed at The Great Escape

List of roller coasters

As of 2022, Zamperla has built 368

s around the world.

List of other attractions

References

External links

* {{Amusement rides Amusement ride manufacturers Manufacturing companies of Italy Roller coaster designers Roller coaster manufacturers Manufacturing companies established in 1966 Italian companies established in 1966 Italian brands Companies based in Vicenza Articles containing video clips