“Working well to live well”, this is the philosophy that guides Iginio Straffi, founder and president of Gruppo Rainbow, as he leads a thriving company that has contributed to the development of the audiovisual industry in a region, Le Marche, with unexpected potential and resources, since its foundation in 1995.
Initially an animator and screenwriter, later an entrepreneur, Straffi has built a company that makes the most of the region’s professionalism, landscape and cultural heritage. The group is increasingly established in the Italian and international audiovisual markets, thanks in part to Netflix, with animated series such as Winx (after a decade’s absence, a reboot is due in autumn 2025) and Mermaid Magic and films like The Tearsmith.
Through Colorado Film, film production company acquired by Rainbow in 2022, Straffi has made film adaptations of Donato Carrisi's The Girl in the Fog (2017) and The Man in the Labyrinth (2019), and a long list of comedy titles including Fabio De Luigi’s 50 km all’ora (2024) and the recent 30 notti con il mio ex (2025) by Guido Chiesa. Meanwhile, the long-awaited live action based on Hugo Pratt's comic book saga, “Corto Maltese”, is in the works.
“We had already considered ??expanding to different genres at the time of acquiring Colorado, a huge TV and film content production company, because Rainbow's DNA is to be as global as possible, offering products that cross borders beyond Italy” notes Iginio Straffi. “We experimented with Carrisi's thrillers, which did well at the cinema and also on television, and with a couple of horror films with De Feo, The Nest (2019) and A Classic Horror Story (2021) which brought great satisfaction. Then came The Tearsmith phenomenon that brought even more satisfaction because it was shot in Italy, in Italian, with an Italian director and actors. The challenge was to demonstrate that high-quality stories that are globally interesting can be created here too. It was no trivial thing to demonstrate that these taboos about Italy can be broken, but in truth when the genre is right, the story is right and it is well made, in the end the results arrive”.
Now Straffi has created two products intended for the international market, with intention to showcase and exploit the opportunities offered by Le Marche region: the live action reboot Gormiti - The New Era (2 seasons x 10 episodes, broadcast from 2024) and a short film (currently untitled) intended for Expo Osaka 2025, to be presented 2 June at the Italian Pavilion. Both were filmed in the most beautiful locations in Le Marche, and make use of the region’s landscape and cultural heritage, including the Frasassi Caves and the Valadier Temple (for the TV series) and the Tenuta di Tavignano di Cingoli, the Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi area, Teatro dell'Aquila, Palazzo dei Priori (Fermo), the Arch of Trajan (Ancona), the Hermitage of the White Friars (Cupramontana), the Sferisterio (Macerata), Urbino, the Conero Park and the Sibillini Mountains (for the short).
“We always try to contribute to the promotion of our region and wanted to prepare something for Expo Osaka 2025 that would intrigue the public. The Film Commission is very active, and, above all, we had the support of several local production companies that recognised the Expo as an opportunity to showcase the Marche. We tried to do something more artistic, with the basic idea of ??marrying the DNA of the region’s people, who have always made high-level craftsmanship, with the Japanese way of paying attention to detail. We want to promote the Marche with this short and to inspire the Japanese and Expo visitors to visit the beauties of our region with all the lifestyle that it offers”, says Straffi.
Since its foundation, Rainbow has developed into an avant garde entrepreneurial reality given that it has rooted itself in the region with careful attention paid to life - work balance. The studios, located in the greenery of Loreto, were built with attention to harmony with nature and the surrounding landscape. Thanks to the integration of a school and a small sports facility, the business offers employees the opportunity to balance work with a lifestyle that respects the personal and social sphere.