EXCELLE SAN GIMIGNANO

In the historic centre of San Gimignano, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, ExCelle San Gimignano is taking shape — the regeneration project of the former convent and former prison of San Domenico, promoted by the Municipality of San Gimignano and the Tuscany Region, and financed and realised by Opera Laboratori. An intervention covering over 13,000 square metres which, through Italy's first project financing initiative in the cultural sector, proposes a new model of collaboration between public and private entities. The objective is not simply to restore a historic building, but to give back to the city an entire piece of its urban fabric, transforming it into a "city within a city". ExCelle is born from the history of the place and its layered past: the monastic and prison cells, the cloister, the basilica, the gardens, the underground spaces and the patrol walkway become the elements of a new system that interweaves hospitality, culture, art, events, food and wine, craftsmanship and community life.
ExCelle San Gimignano is conceived as a new cultural district, capable of symbolically expanding the city and offering new opportunities for enjoyment, encounter and cultural production, fostering a more conscious and qualified form of tourism. A place that does not erase the past, but brings it to life, making it accessible and shared. A formerly closed space, now open to the world. At the heart of the project: museum spaces and an underground Digital Art Museum featuring temporary immersive installations, panoramic routes and new public gathering spaces, an outdoor events area in the former exercise yard with a capacity of up to 1,800 seats, an experiential accommodation facility housed within the former convent cells, a historic residence with suites and mini-residences, spaces for conferences, exhibitions and associations, a bookshop, workshops and areas dedicated to AgriFood, AgriBar and dining, with short-supply-chain products.