Italy debates digital sovereignty and data center strategy

At a conference held at the Italian Chamber of Deputies, industry leaders called for a comprehensive national strategy regarding data centers to ensure digital sovereignty. Andrea Violetti, president of Confassociazioni Digital, emphasized that Italy must move beyond mere data localization to achieve effective control over infrastructure, technologies, cloud platforms, and artificial intelligence algorithms.

Marco Fanizzi, CEO of Dell Technologies Italy, supported this view, noting that digital sovereignty implies the ability to choose between different providers for data, computing, and governance. The discussions highlighted the need for a national law to coordinate the construction and distribution of digital infrastructure across the country, rather than leaving decisions solely to local territories.

Other participants noted that while Italy has made progress through the National Strategic Pole (Polo Strategico Nazionale) in migrating public administration structures to domestic data centers, the country still requires significant digital expertise and technological investment to remain competitive and secure.