Lombardy Court of Auditors: hypothesis of fiscal damage for extra costs at the Santa Giulia Arena

The Lombardy Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Auditors is opening an investigation into the extra costs granted to the Santa Giulia Arena, which hosted the men's ice hockey facility for the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina. Yesterday, the Pef unit of the Milan Finance Police served an order to produce the documents at the Milan City Hall (in the offices of the General Directorate), with the hypothesis of fiscal damage.

The story of cost overruns began years ago, with the staggering increase in energy and raw material costs following the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In 2023, the multinational Eventim, the owner of the facility (through the special purpose vehicle Evd Milan Srl), began to demand more resources, at least 120-130 million more, on a starting base of around 180 million. The figures claimed have since seen adjustments during the course of the project, also on the basis of international scenarios, but already three years ago there was the certainty that the work would cost much more than initially estimated.

At the beginning of this year, shortly before the start of the Olympics, there was talk of 134 million in extra costs, of which, however, the public sector - the municipality and the Lombardy region - was only prepared to recognise a smaller slice.

It should also be mentioned that in August 2025, the government's Sport Decree released funds for extra costs, guaranteeing precisely to the Arena 21 million; to this figure was added an amendment to the agreement, signed by the municipality and the region, to guarantee the Eventim group other sporting events of national value, as a sort of 'compensation'.

Under the Court of Auditors' lens, however, are, above all, the two events that Eventim is supposed to guarantee to the public: only two concerts per year, as requested by the Milan City Council. Too little, in the opinion of the investigators, who are contesting possible damage to the public purse because a private company would have obtained public resources without guaranteeing adequate services to the community in return. This is the premise of the investigation, which will be further investigated in the coming weeks. On the other hand, there are no criminal fronts open at the Public Prosecutor's Office in Milan.