More than 170 students took part in the first edition of XCOOL, the Olympic Games of Italian Excellent Colleges. The event took place in the SIAF campus in Volterra from 3rd to 5th October 2008. Students have been playing football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, ping pong, table football, chess and cards, cross country. Students – that also promoted and organised the event - came from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna and Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Scuola Galileiana in Padova, Scuola Superiore in Udine, Scuola Superiore in Catania, College in Milano and from Colleges Borromeo, Ghisleri, Nuovo and Santa Caterina in Pavia.

XCOOL aimed also to facilitate contacts and strengthen relationships between students arriving from different universities.