The Project

Magnolfi is not only an historical palace, recently restored thanks to the common commitment of several institutional subjects, but it is also the site of a new cultural project expression of Prato City Council Department of Culture.

The project is the result of experiences matured in the heart of the Council Administraton in the field of youthful knowledge, like the School of Music and the Officina Giovani (Young People Workshop) and an important theatrical activity of Teatro Metastasio Teatro Stabile della Toscana (Metastasio Theatre Permanent Theatre of Tuscany), and it took shape in the occasion of the post-graduate course "Il teatro e la musica" (The Theatre and the Music) in the years 2003/2004, viewing the cooperation of "Accademia d'arte drammatica Silvio d'Amico” (Academy of Dramatics Silvio d'Amico ) in Rome.

Such a cooperation resulted in the agreement between the two subjects, oriented to the joining of some Academy's educational activities in Prato district. These exeperiences started off the project "Centro culturale Magnolfi Nuovo" (new Magnolfi cultural centre), meaning the launch of a new formative path in the field of theater and music in Prato City.
The objective was to give life to a Cultural Centre of education, production and research, starting from the experiences and the competences gained on the territory and moving in the largest national and international dimension like a downright "workshop" able to produce important formative and productive experiences, offering at the same time new opportunities to young talents.

Restoration and use of the spaces were thought to be functional to the project's activities and philosophy, in a position to allow testing of new forms of expressive interaction, production and performance; the possibility of having formative spaces available next to the theatre, allows one to give life to out-and-out "experimental workshops".

The historical theatre is not only housing educational activities and events promoted by institutions and cultural authorities but it is also a space open to the town people, both to local culture situations and to new theatre and music groups.

Furthermore, the multi-purpose area gives countless opportunities to live Magnolfi Nuovo spaces, both concerning the formative activities and the more leisure-recreational ones, without forgetting the possibility to stay overnight inside the building.