Italy pushes AI data center projects in Sardinia and Puglia

Energy Vault, a company specialising in strategic infrastructure, plans a 100‑MW AI‑focused data centre campus called Digital Vault Sulcis on the former Nuraxi Figus mine in Gonnesa, Sardinia. The firm has asked the Ministry for Enterprises and Made‑in‑Italy to grant the project strategic national interest status to accelerate permitting, arguing it will boost digital sovereignty, attract high‑value tech investment and serve as a model for repurposing disused industrial sites. Luca Manzella, Energy Vault’s EMEA vice‑president, said the recognition would “allow the Sardinia Region to speed up the authorisation process of the first modules and create an important development opportunity for Sardinia and the whole country.” The campus will be powered by a mix of renewable sources, including solar and hybrid storage, and will be built modularly over ten years.

In parallel, the Puglia regional administration is actively courting data‑centre developers to turn the southern region into a Mediterranean hub for AI and cloud services. Exploiting abundant renewable energy, extensive industrial lands, and proximity to submarine cable routes, Puglia has already attracted about 7.7 GW of connection requests, with most projects centred around Bari and Brindisi. The regional plan includes strict guidelines on location, environmental impact and energy use, aiming to secure a competitive digital infrastructure ahead of demand growth.