San Domenico Cloisters

Address and contacts

Via Dante Alighieri, 11 - 42121 Reggio Emilia
0039 0522 451722
Less Than - Robert Morris
GiraReggio
Musei Civici

Opening times

Big Cloister
From Monday to Saturday
7.00 a.m. - 8.00 p.m.
Extraordinary openings during events or exhibitions

Small Cloister
Open only during exhibitions or events

Entrance fees

Free entrance into the Big Cloister.
Entrance fees for the small cloister, according to the ongoing events.

How to get there

Reggio nell'Emilia - Town centre

From the railway station: take Via Eritrea to the right and at the traffic lights junction with Viale Piave, go straight on until Via Alighieri; the entrance to the Cloisters is situated after the junction with via Samarotto.

Historical notes

They are built on the vegetable gardens and part of the convent belonging to the Dominicans, who had already surrendered a piece of ground on via Samorotto to the Municipality for the construction of houses for soldiers. When the Dominicans in Reggio were dissolved in 1796, the convent buildings were assigned as a hospital for soldiers; in 1861 it became the "Stalloni" Depot. Many of the ancient structures of one of the two cloisters can still be seen in the interior. In the passage-way between the first and second courtyard, two lunettes bear traces of 17th century fresco paintings; in one of these you can make out "Cristo e una santa Domenicana" (Christ and a saintly Dominican nun), in the other, "la Madonna e alcune Domenicane" (the Madonna and a group of Dominican nuns). The plan of the ancient convent has remained intact, following the theory of two monumental cloisters: church, small cloister lying next to the church, and a large cloister.

The original nature of the San Domenico Cloisters derives for the most part from its particular history; a Dominican convent until the second half of the 18th century, a barracks for the Estensi troops until 1860, Royal Stalloni depot until 1945, Institute for the promotion of horse-racing until 1970-80 and various uses until 1990.

Today this place hosts  a very popular cultural center where the Achille Peri Institute of Musical Studies, the Archival Pole, the Historical Institute of Resistance (Istoreco), the Creative Workshop The new Workshop of the Arts,  are located.