120MW Data Center Planned for Lombardy, Italy, Faces Local Opposition

A new 120MW data center has been announced for the Lombardy region of northern Italy, a project that underscores the region’s growing appeal as a data center hub but also highlights rising community and political tensions around large-scale digital infrastructure development.

The facility, designed by urban planning firm The Blossom Avenue Partners and built by property developer Edge Gate, is slated for a 1.4 million sq ft (130,000 sqm) site in an industrial area outside the town of Travagliato. The data center will occupy a two-story warehouse and will include a substation, fire station, and parking. Developers have requested a grid connection and plan to use 60 emergency generators for uninterruptible power supply. A buffer zone is also proposed to mitigate noise and air pollution that could affect nearby special conservation areas and local residents.

According to a report commissioned from Te.A. Consulting by The Blossom Avenue Partners, the data center is expected to generate more than €11 million ($12.5 million) in investment for the local municipality, including €524,715 ($598,707) in compensation for building on agricultural land. However, the project has drawn sharp criticism from local politicians over transparency. Alberto Trainini, a council member for the Travagliato Bene Comune group, said he only learned of the project on July 2, suggesting the municipality had kept the application from the city council for months. “The regret is that we didn’t hear anything from the mayor sooner,” Trainini told Giornale di Brescia.

The proposed development has also sparked opposition from residents. An online petition has been launched urging the municipality to block the project, reflecting broader discontent with data center expansion in the region. Lombardy, which hosts 65 data center facilities according to DataCenters.com, has become an increasingly contested market. In June, a separate development in the town of Magenta drew significant protests.

In response to growing opposition, Lombardy’s government recently passed Regional Law No. 11/2026, Italy’s first regulatory framework specifically for data center approvals. The law aims to promote sustainability, encourage construction on brownfield sites, and improve oversight of new developments. The Travagliato project will be among the first to test this new regulatory environment.