Deep in the Dolomite rock of Val di Non, roughly one hundred metres below the surface, Intacture has officially come online – the first data center in Europe built inside an active mine. The facility is designed to host data, deliver advanced computing power and support artificial intelligence applications, within an environment that offers physical protection, energy efficiency and full data sovereignty under Italian and European jurisdiction.
Gpi is among the founding partners of Trentino DataMine, the company that developed the project together with the University of Trento – which serves as project lead with scientific responsibility – and three other industrial partners rooted in the region: Covi Costruzioni, Dedagroup and ISA.
Gpi’s contribution reflects the perspective of a company working every day on the digital transformation of healthcare, a sector where data security and infrastructure reliability are not technical footnotes, but essential conditions for delivering care.
A mountain as infrastructure
Intacture was built around a concrete idea: using what the mountain already provides. The rock maintains a stable temperature that dramatically reduces cooling energy needs. Power comes entirely from local renewable sources. The depth offers protection from physical and electromagnetic risks that no above-ground facility could replicate. The result is an infrastructure that is more efficient, more secure and less dependent on external resources than a conventional data center.
The project also marks a milestone for Italy’s national recovery plan: it is the first under Mission 4, dedicated to education and research, to have completed the full accounting of all allocated funds -€18.4 million as part of a total investment exceeding €50 million.
