Plans for a new 120MW data center in the town of Travagliato, in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, have collapsed after the developer withdrew its application, marking the latest flashpoint in Italy's increasingly contested data center buildout.
East Gate, the developer that submitted the application to the municipality 10 months ago, has withdrawn its building application for the proposed facility, according to reporting by Corriere della Sera. Mayor Renato Pasinetti confirmed the withdrawal, stating, "Yes, the proponents withdrew the building application for the implementation plan."
Pasinetti added that the province of Brescia "will have no choice" but to shelve the application for grid connection, as no additional information has been submitted. He said the Travagliato municipality never received the data necessary for a complete environmental impact assessment or to evaluate the 120MW grid connection.
The project, designed by urban planning firm The Blossom Avenue Partners, was to be built within a 1.4 million sq ft (130,000 sqm) site in an industrial area outside Travagliato. It was expected to deliver more than €11 million ($12.5 million) to the local municipality, according to a report commissioned by The Blossom Avenue Partners from Te.A. Consulting, including €524,715 ($598,707) in compensation for building on agricultural land.
Travagliato had firmly rejected the data center last month, although some minority groups had called for the activation of the municipal council to identify suitable urban planning strategies for the project. "We've always said we weren't against the project outright, as long as the process and its environmental impacts were thoroughly assessed by experts," Pasinetti said in a separate interview with Corriere della Sera. "To do that, we wanted the data. Which never arrived."
The plans also drew opposition from residents concerned about the facility's energy and environmental impact, with an online petition attracting almost 10,000 signatures.
The withdrawal underscores growing friction in Lombardy, particularly the Milan metropolitan area, which has become a prime target for data center development in Italy, with 65 facilities listed in the region by DataCenters.com. The boom has also sparked resident pushback, including recent protests against a 240MW development in the town of Magenta.
Against this backdrop, Lombardy's government recently passed Regional Law No.11/2026, Italy's first regulatory framework for the approval of data centers. The law is intended to promote the sustainability of new developments and encourage construction on brownfield sites, among other measures.