Reprinted by permission of MAGIC Magazine, Las Vegas, Nevada, www.magicmagazine.com
Magic Magazine - November 2008 | By Steven Sokulski
Villa Livera - The House That Gio Built
Giovanni Livera is a tough man to keep track of. His personal history in the world of magic is marked with such notable experiences as producing halftime shows for several
sports venues, including the Orlando Magic basketball team, creating and performing with his own flea circus, and edging his way into the highly competitive world of tradeshow magic. Ultimately, his passion for
close-up magic won him the IBM Gold Cups in 1991. More recently, his talents as a motivational speaker have led him to become adistinguished member of the National Speakers’ Association Hall of Fame, the oratory equivalent of the coveted Gold Cups.
When asked what drove him from one discipline to another, the energetic Italian responds, “I moved on when it wasn’t as much fun anymore.” But while he removed himself from the world of the fulltime closeup entertainer, he has never taken magic out of his life or his work.
Governed by what he refers to as his “funmeter,” it’s no surprise that Livera’s central Florida home would be just as interesting and fun-filled as he is. Villa Livera — as the house is referred to by Gio, his wife, and their two daughters — has all the charm of a home in the Italian countryside and more tricks up its sleeve than it lets on. Even before entering the house, the playful tone is set — or rung. The doorbell doesn’t emit the usual doorbell sound; instead, it sounds like the loud ringing of a church bell.
Inside the house, a parted curtain to one
side of the entryway reveals a small room,
replete with plush pillows. Middle Eastern
drapery hangs from the ceiling, adding to the
décor. “This room is so multi-functional,”
Livera notes. “Great for reading, board
games — we’ve even held a séance in here.”
“It has always been my dream to design
my own house,” he adds as he heads toward
the kitchen. “My interest in architecture
has made that a prominent goal.” So far,
the kitchen looks normal enough, until Gio
coyly presses a button on the wall, activating
an endless hallway in the pantry. The effect
shows a floor-to-ceiling wine pantry that
curves off into the distance for what looks
like hundreds of yards.
Next, upstairs for a quick demonstration
of one of the many bits of technical wizardry
that went into the home automation system:
an array of electronics that controls much of
Villa Livera’s functionality, including lighting,
audiovisual, and climate control. On
an indoor balcony that overlooks the living
room, Gio pushes a button on the wall. All
at once, the lights in the living room dim, the
music fades, and a light brightly illuminates
the landing. “We call this the ‘toasting balcony’
— great for parties,” he smiles, making
it apparent that his passion for entertaining
flows abundantly into his personal life.
Heading back downstairs, we pass
through the home’s large living room. Giovanni
refers to the style of his residence as
Tuscan Carnival, the high drapery and stonelined
fi replace accenting the Mediterranean
influence. But what about the carnival? Gio
leads the way toward a set of double doors,
which reveal a room decorated in dark purple.
A bar is positioned on one end, a stage
on the other. In between sits a couch and a
large open space. “This is where we hold a
lot of our parties,” he points out. “We’ve got
a projection system for movies and lots of fun
tricks built into the room.”
A built-in ticket booth does double duty as
a puppet theater, and a large, ornate wooden
showcase sits beside it. “Wait here just a second,’
he says again, disappearing from view.
A curtain soon lifts from the case and Giovanni’s
disembodied head comes into view.
“We used to use this on tour,” he explains,
his voice distorted by a special sound system
designed for the prop. “Now it stays here
year-round.” The “tour” he refers to was a
series of trade shows, on which Gio worked
with Terry Ward. Ward — or at least his head
— would appear in the box as he portrayed
“Hedric, the Small Medium at Large.”
Livera next directs attention towards a
diminutive door at his feet. The door opens,
a mouse pops his head out, looks around,
and disappears back into the hole. The mouse
is named Pepino, and he seems to live quite
cozily in his well-appointed mouse-hole
apartment. As Gio points his guests’ view up
the wall, they see a small balcony with a set
of miniature French doors. Behind the French
doors, the silhouettes of two mice are seen.
A romantic interlude takes place between
Pepino and his girlfriend, Maria, complete
with mouse-like sound effects.
“My friend Kerry Pollock worked on that
one, along with the rest of the technology
in the house,” Gio notes, displaying a small
remote of the type you might use to unlock
your car. Pollock is the electronics wizard
responsible for a number of effects used by
magicians, both in their performances and
elsewhere, as in the Villa Livera.
Stepping behind the bar, Giovanni returns
the remote control to his pocket and prepares
to demonstrate the rest of the unique functionality
built into this room. Behind him,
a jug sits in front of a large mirror. The jug
levitates, pouring its contents into a waiting
glass before floating back down. The mirror
also provides a wide reflection of the performer
on the stage, a useful bonus for any
magician. “That was more of an accident,”
adds Livera. “It just sort of worked out.” He
makes use of this regularly, rehearsing tricks
to be performed during keynote speeches and
corporate events. Among the routines he still
uses in his presentations is “Pasta Opera,” in
which Gio destroys a spectator’s watch only
to have it reappear in a jar of tomato sauce.
With over 85 performances a year, this room
sees a lot of rehearsals.
Pressing another button on the remote control
causes the lampshades on either side of the
bar to spin, their tassels extending and whirling wildly. These can comically accent a spectator’s
sneeze, or they might highlight other
gags when Gio performs the Three-Shell Game
or other close-up magic behind the bar.
On the opposite side of the room, the stage is backed by a thick velvet drape. Drawing
back the curtain, Livera shows that the
performer onstage can play to the audience
in the room or to a patio behind the house, with a lake in the distance.
Bookshelves lining the walls of the
room are covered with memorabilia of
all sorts. Somewhere among the scores of
books, Giovanni pulls a lever, and a section
of bookshelf gives way. Behind it, a
secret passage leads to a discreet spiral
staircase that heads back upstairs. To the
side of the staircase hang some of the
well-known stretching paintings from
the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland —
three lithographs and one original.
As we reach the second story, we
are outside the master suite, set behind
a pair of double doors. “I’ve always wanted
to live above a theater. Being able to design
the house this way was a big bonus for me,’
Giovanni comments. “We laid the house out
so that we could entertain and hold teaching
sessions here without letting the guests disrupt
our home completely.” That was before
Livera’s motivational business moved into its
newest location, TimeCompass.
Referred to by Livera and his staff simply
as “the learning center,” the newly completed
facility provides office space as well as a
classroom that is far from traditional. “Our
old location was a typical office suite. Great
for day-to-day operations, but it wasn’t the
kind of place you could teach and inspire in,”
says Giovanni.
Once again, Gio’s fun-meter urged him
forward. After having taken the live version
of his book, Live A Thousand Years, to companies
across the country, Livera searched
for a way to turn the tables and bring the
clients directly to him. Organizing events
in his own space allows him to spend more
time at home with his family, as well as engineer
more complex presentations that utilize
his custom facility.
“Live A Thousand Years is more than a
book,” he explains. “The idea came to me
following the disasters of 9/11. Just as the
nation was beginning to cope with the loss,
my wife and I discovered we were to be having
our first child. Faced with both a terrible
piece of news and the best news I had ever
heard, I was struck with a feeling that one
should be living every moment of life to the
fullest.” It was a simple idea. Most people
only take advantage of a small number of
opportunities in their lives. By utilizing every
opportunity to the fullest and living every
moment possible, one could effectively live
one thousand years.
Describing the experience, he says, “It’s a
little like The Seven Habits of Highly Effective
People meets Willy Wonka.”
The glowing gold walls of the round
room provide the perfect backdrop for five
vibrant banners, each displaying artwork
for the “journeys” of the Live A Thousand
Years program. Each of the banners
is revealed as a thick curtain parts at Gio’s
command. On the ceiling, a large clock
hand is used to designate which phase of
the session the group is currently embarking
upon. In addition to the motorized banners
and curtains and a host of large flat-screen
televisions, the room also features a strobe
effect accompanied by foam lightning bolts
and brains falling from the ceiling. This, of
course, signals a “brainstorm.” The Time-
Compass experience also includes a train
that circles the room after a travel illustration,
color-changing lighting effects, and 3-D
surround sound. Although not necessarily
magical effects, these — and a myriad of
other such tricks and treats Livera and Pollock
have designed into the facility — are
married with Gio’s ever-energetic style of
showmanship to create a truly magical, lifechanging
experience for his clients.
“I tried to make this as visually interesting
as possible,” Gio says. “Who wants to
use a black-and-white word document to
plan their life?”
Livera notes, “It is definitely driving us to
create new experiences to present here.” His
perseverance and history of success indicate
that anything he has a hand in creating is sure
to be a delight.
Steven Sokulski, the audio-visual director for
MAGIC Live!, has also worked on projects
for the IBM and SAM. While doing an internship
at Walt Disney World recently, he had
the opportunity to visit “Gio Livera World.”
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