Rifugio Digitale is a new exhibition space opened in Florence which is proposed as a place dedicated to the promotion of digital art, where architecture, design, photography, cinema, literature and all the many artistic and expressive forms also find their their own dimension by dialoguing with each other. The new gallery was born from the foundations of an ancient anti-aircraft tunnel readjusted in 1943 from an old ditch, as documented by the maps of the time. The “Refuge of the Furnace”, once a refuge from a tragic reality, is now “Rifugio Digitale”, a place of rebirth, where technology meets art, giving life to a contemporary space in which it is possible to explore creativity through the current language of technology. The redevelopment project, curated by the Archea Associati studio, offers a space of 165 square meters, of which 23 are occupied by the tunnel access court and 11 by the technical room, located in the basement and accessible through a hidden trap door. The gallery, with a diameter of 3.50 meters, extends over a length of 42, at the end of which the mirrored walls act as theatrical wings that hide the two services and the spiral staircase, which leads with a jump in height of 14 meters to the hill above. The intervention involved an important structural consolidation work through the creation of an additional reinforced concrete cap, as well as a significant waterproofing work that used techniques specifically designed for motorway tunnels in order to protect the structure from the drainage of rainwater. , which descend from the hill of Piazzale Michelangelo, and from an ancient spring. Inside the gallery – entirely covered with blue-green glazed ceramic tiles in different shades that recall the colors of water – sixteen screens arranged in length reproduce digital works, generating a space in constant change and always dynamic, equipped with a new and thrilling speed that sets it apart from a traditional art gallery.