Plans by Italian real estate developer GSM to build a 50MW data center outside the town of Certosa di Pavia in Italy’s Lombardy region have advanced.

The facility, provisionally approved by Pavia city council, would include an HV/MV substation and a 646,000 sq ft (60,000 sqm) complex comprising three buildings, each housing offices, technical rooms, and storage.

Though final approval of the project is contingent on the outcome of a consultation process and a service conference, it has already attracted opposition from locals. DCD has approached the city council, the Municipality of Certosa di Pavia, and GSM for comment.

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In a statement provided to DCD, GSM confirmed that it has six data center projects in its development pipeline within a 20 kilometer (12m) radius of Milan. "At the moment, we cannot confirm the operator [for] Certosa, as several discussions are still in progress," said Sebastiano Serughetti, the firm's data center portfolio manager. "However, we expect to announce the selected operator within a few months."

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“We consider this project an affront to our territory and, for this reason, we are carefully analyzing the technical documentation, which has only been available since January 22nd,” councilors from the Certosa civic list told la Provincia Pavese. “The use of still-green land to build new warehouses – those planned could reach heights of up to 15 meters (49ft) – often brings no economic benefit to the local community, leaving only environmental problems and a significant decline in the quality of life."

Certosa di Pavia is a small town adjacent to a 14th-century monastery complex of the same name. The location developed by GSM, which has yet to find an operator, will be situated in the artisanal/industrial area of Certosa di Pavia, close to the nearby Navigliaccio canal.

GSM manager Costantino Serughetti stressed that construction of the data center would not lead to increased traffic congestion or electricity shortages in the municipality. The project’s arrival was cautiously welcomed by Certosa di Pavia’s mayor, Marcello Infurna.

“As a matter of principle, we have always supported sustainable growth in our area, which is why we do not have and do not want logistics centers or shopping centers,” said Infurna. “We believe in the digital transition and, from a first reading, it seems to us that these two things are connected and that the project presented is moving in this direction. We remain secular, attentive, and open to all assessments and further investigations before proceeding with the decision-making phases required by the city council procedure.”

Lombardy has proven an attractive market for data center operators in the past year, with Milan one of Europe's major growth hubs.

In December, Italian utility firm A2A announced plans for a new facility outside of Milan as part of a ten-year, €1.6 billion ($2.1bn) investment program. Last year also saw Vantage detail plans for its second data center campus in the city and Eni partner with Khazna Data Centers to build a massive 500MW AI data center campus in Ferrera Erbognone, southwest of Pavia.

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 later this year