Revitalizing the ancient Santa Clara Convent in the heart of Old Havana and relaunching it as a training center for restoration arts and crafts for Cuba and the Caribbean—this was the goal of the recently completed project, a collaboration between the Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad de La Habana (OHCH), the Italo-Latin American International Organization (IILA), with support from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).
In the restored Aula Magna, at the heart of the College, the closing ceremony took place, during which diplomas were awarded for the course on the restoration and rehabilitation of historic buildings, the use of new technologies, and an introduction to creative economies. The training, organized by IILA, was delivered by professors from the Polytechnic University of Turin and Sapienza University of Rome in the newly refurbished classrooms.
“Today we are closing the Santa Clara College project, but the collaboration with IILA and OHCH continues with the new initiative focused on rehabilitating the Fernando Ortiz Foundation and the Padre Félix Varela Cultural Center. Both initiatives—the one just concluded and the one just beginning—illustrate the strong cooperative relationship between Italy and Cuba in the field of integrated heritage management, with approaches oriented toward sustainability and local development. The enhancement of cultural heritage, the promotion of creative economies, and the contribution to developing local capacity in territorial management and planning are values that Italian cooperation supports and will continue to support,” stated Antonio Festa, Director of the AICS Office in Havana.
The Santa Clara Convent, founded in the 17th century, is one of Cuba’s most important colonial buildings. Initially a center for restoration and conservation, it was later transformed into the Ministry of Public Works in the 1990s. The building, severely damaged when it was entrusted to OHCH in 2012, has been carefully restored, including the recovery of the original colors of its mural paintings. The new Santa Clara College officially reopened in April 2025 after a long and meticulous restoration of its first cloister and has now become a specialized training center in Cuba and the Caribbean in the field of heritage restoration and conservation. Italy has stood alongside OHCH since the very beginning of the project.
