Lazzari Group's digital infrastructure business, Core Stack, and private equity firm Green Arrow Capital have revealed further plans for a data center network across Italy.

The joint venture will build a total of 13 medium-sized data centers backed by more than €1 billion ($1.16bn) of investment, Italy’s news agency ANSA reported.

The facilities will be developed in industrial areas nationwide, starting in the north and northeast, followed by the center-south of the country.

The permit process for two facilities on brownfield sites near the cities of Cremona and Verona is in advanced stages, according to ANSA.

Construction of these data centers is expected to start at the end of 2027 for a first-quarter 2028 go-live target.

Each new data center will have a renewable energy plant next to it to support the facilities’ operations.

The JV expects that this approach will allow it to identify and generate electrical capacity compatible with growing digital demand. The JV is also considering installing battery energy storage systems (BESS) developed in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Milan to improve the data centers’ energy performance.

The plans follow the announcement earlier in the year of the JV between Green Arrow Capital and Gruppo Lazzari’s Core Stack to invest in renewable data centers across Italy.

The JV said at the time that it had a “substantial” pipeline of projects with a “significant share” expected to achieve approval for construction in 2026.

With this network, the JV aims to establish a “benchmark for a new model of Italian data centers” that are local, sustainable, and have on-site renewable energy generation.

This is Green Arrow Capital’s second fund dedicated to energy and digital infrastructure, GAIF II, which is currently in the fundraising phase.

Learn more about the data center market in Italy and Southern Europe, and meet with other executives and experts from the region at the DCN Milan event next year