Data centers in Italy: 16 projects mapped

Most of Italy's data centers, built and planned, are around Milan in Lombardy. The fight there started this summer in Lacchiarella, a town of about 9,000 between Milan and Pavia, where residents held Lombardy's first street protest against data centers on July 12, 2026. They oppose a planned campus of 230,000 square meters and more than 3.5 billion euros that its opponents say would be the biggest in Italy.

Enrico Duranti, a founder of the local Ciarlasco committee, said the campus would use as much energy as 500,000 families and called it colonization. Residents say they, not their town halls, worked out what the projects meant. In late July more than 150 people met in Rho to call for an immediate moratorium on new data centers across Lombardy, and organizers are planning a regional march.

In Travagliato, near Brescia, the town came out against a 120-megawatt data center this summer after 450 residents signed a letter against it; Mayor Renato Pasinetti said the developer, a new company with 10,000 euros of capital, had given only vague answers. The developer, East Gate, has since withdrawn its application. Lombardy's new regional law, in force since June 20, 2026, steers data centers toward old industrial land and charges more to build on farmland.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.