High-profile real estate developments worth hundreds of millions of euros – projects reshaping Milan’s skyline – now form the center of an urban planning investigation that has rocked the city. The probe scrutinizes transformative developments ranging from the futuristic Porta Nuova district near Porta Garibaldi and Piazza Gae Aulenti, to the Pirellino skyscraper (whose planned Botanical Tower was scrapped), and extending to buildings within the Olympic Village at Porta Romana railway yard and the Library of Trees.
While early 20th-century regulations once prohibited buildings exceeding the 108.5-meter height of the Madonnina statue atop Milan Cathedral, recent skyscrapers have given the city a modern, cosmopolitan profile. Several towers developed by Coima – the real estate group founded by Manfredi Catella, for whom prosecutors have requested house arrest – exemplify this blend of modern and traditional architecture redefining Lombardy’s capital.
Porta Nuova stands as one of Europe’s most prestigious urban regeneration projects, representing a €2 billion investment. This comprehensive redevelopment converted disused railway yards into an innovation and sustainability hub through new buildings, green spaces, pedestrian connections and piazza, creating a modern, livable district.
The investigation’s second phase focuses on Pirellino, the renovation of the former municipal tower at 39 Pirelli Street, now under judicial review for alleged building violations. This ambitious restructuring recently underwent downsizing to accelerate timelines: Stefano Boeri’s planned Botanical Tower was abandoned, while the bridge building over Via Melchiorre Gioia will receive only conservative restoration instead of the originally envisioned “Greenhouse Bridge” with public spaces.
Financial police seized municipal documents pertaining to nearly thirty additional real estate developments. Projects already under investigation include Olympic Village buildings at Porta Romana – part of a larger redevelopment of the former railway yard slated to become 1,700-bed student housing after the Olympics – and the so-called “nine nodes.” These suburban interchanges allegedly formed the basis for planning strategies across vast Milanese territories, alongside residential towers like the 600-unit Ex Trotter complex.