Rome, bulldozers at the former Alitalia business centre: a Vitek district will be born

Demolition work began today on the former Alitalia office building in Muratella, in the capital's south-west quadrant. In 18 months, the demolition of four out of five buildings will be completed and the redevelopment of the entire area will begin: 106,756 square metres on the hillside, which will become a new neighbourhood, with an investment of about 300 million euro by the Cpi Property Group, led by the Czech tycoon Radovan Vitek.

For 15 years, the former headquarters of the former national airline Alitalia has been in a state of disrepair. Inaugurated in 1991, it was a state-of-the-art business centre with five buildings connected by a series of tunnels that made it possible to move from one building to another without ever going outside. The facility also contained two auditoriums, a press room, a canteen for over a thousand people, parking for over 3,000 cars and a partial reconstruction of an aircraft cabin, with the flight simulator of a B747 with an external control panel. In 2002, due to the company's crisis, the complex was sold to Vitek's real estate holding company, remaining leased until the end of 2008, when the centre was decommissioned altogether, apart from Building A, reused as office space by a number of multinationals. Between 2019 and 2020, a series of fires involved some of the buildings, adding to the degradation.

Attending the start of demolition today were a large number of representatives from both the Campidoglio and the property: The mayor Roberto Gualtieri, the town planning councillor, Maurizio Veloccia, and the president of Rome's Municipality XI, Gianluca Lanzi, together with the sole director of Cpi Property Group, Giuseppe Colombo, the general manager Mirko Bertaccini, and the technical director Michele Dal Prato. At the end of the operations, only Building A will remain standing.

The investment of around EUR 300 million in total is based on an urban regeneration project divided into two strands. The first concerns the building sector: around a pedestrian plaza, about 1,300 housing units are to be built, 320 of which are to be rented out at reduced rents for social housing, with a school complex (primary and secondary) with an auditorium. Then there are the public areas to be redeveloped: new green areas, road infrastructure and car parks. With a mobility system that encourages the use of public transport and means of transport sharing (bikesharing, car-pooling and car-sharing) and cycle-pedestrian routes, in connection with the Tenuta dei Massimi regional nature reserve. The central one will run along the 'services' area, where, in addition to the schools, there will also be a supermarket, neighbourhood commercial activities, public shops, and play and sports areas.