Urban planning enquiry

Milan, Mayor Sala speaks: 'I claim most of the building operations'

The first citizen was interviewed by the radio station Rtl 102.5. He thanked Prime Minister Meloni for her words and reiterated: 'I am going ahead on San Siro'.

5 August 2025

Il sindaco di Milano Giuseppe Sala partecipa all’inaugurazione dello spazio Smart City Lab in via Ripamonti a Milano, 22 luglio 2025.
ANSA/MOURAD BALTI TOUATI — Il sindaco di Milano Giuseppe Sala partecipa all’inaugurazione dello spazio Smart City Lab in via Ripamonti a Milano, 22 luglio 2025. ANSA/MOURAD BALTI TOUATI

4' min read

"I'm a little tried, obviously the situation is not pleasant, but in the end passion and the will to work prevail, so we go on with intensity". So said the mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala live on RTL 102.5, commenting on his state of mind in the wake of the urban planning investigation for which he is also under investigation.

On 21 July in the City Council, he gave a speech in which he explained that he wanted to continue in office despite everything. 'In the end the sense of duty prevails, I am 67 years old and I have done many things in life,' he added, 'it is not that I cultivate any ambition, I look to the future with disenchantment. I have a sense of duty and I believe Milan still needs it - he went on to explain -, we will be back from holiday in September and there will be 18 months left until the end of the mandate and I would like to make them as good as possible'.

That I did not resign 'I did it only out of a sense of duty because I am not a quitter,' Sala said. 'It is not that Expo was a walk in the park, I know what I suffered but it was a success for Milan, so you also have to know how to resist at certain times,' he said.

Thanks to Meloni for his words

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's words that "one does not resign because of a notice of guarantee" are statements "that pleased me and are correct words, because we cannot be alternating-current legalitarians," Sala stressed, commenting on the prime minister's words after the news of the investigation against him in the urban planning enquiry.

'I found out at ten o'clock in the evening from a phone call from the editor of the Corriere della Sera. It is clear that someone had told the journalists,' the mayor of Milan told the microphones of Rtl 102.5. 'This always happens,' he added, 'and in my opinion in a democratic country it is not good but I see that it is accepted. Beyond bitterness, this is how things are'.

I do most of the building work in Milan

"I say that there may have been incorrect transactions in Milan, but in the vast majority the real estate transactions that were made make sense, indeed I claim them. There is no point in me hiding behind a finger. Milan in my opinion is better than it was years ago, there may be some mistakes, but if the alternative is to stand still, that is not the reason why citizens voted for me,' added Giuseppe Sala. 'Far be it from me to say, it's not my fault, if there are mistakes it's my fault, then let's see the form of the fault.

The investigation arose from the case of a multi-storey building constructed in a courtyard close to other houses. "This is one out of 300 interventions in Milan," replied the mayor, "it was certainly a mistake, the rest is there to be seen. We have gone from magnifying the Milan model by saying that everything was perfect, now it has become the Milan system, these things are not useful and do not correspond to reality,' he added. 'Those who do by definition make mistakes, but Milan has improved compared to twenty years ago, then justice will take its course, but we cannot throw everything away. Milan has come a long way and is the only international city in Italy,' he said on the radio, 'even with mistakes, but throwing everything away seems wrong to me'.

On landscape commission I signed engineers' proposal

"In my case, the Gip denied that I lobbied to have things approved, the charge of having signed the appointment of the landscape commission remains against me," the mayor explained to Rtl 102.5. 'When you make a public announcement, a commission of the municipality chooses the components on the basis of a technical evaluation and the mayor then signs,' he added. 'But what do we think, that the mayor once this commission has done this work starts doing his own analysis, one by one of the components? He signs. I signed with respect to a proposal that others have been working on for months'. "Justice will take its course but that is what we are talking about."

On San Siro I also go ahead out of personal dignity

On the sale of the San Siro stadium to Inter and Milan, 'we'll see in September what will happen, we have to go through the city council. San Siro is one of my goals for personal dignity I've been working on it for several years,' Sala stressed. "We'll see if politics will follow this path, what I notice having travelled the world is that big cities have new stadiums, San Siro instead is not new,' he added. 'Here I'll stop because I know that it will be a source of controversy, to do nothing apparently goes well but contemporaneity pushes for change especially in a city like Milan. I will vote in favour in the courtroom, because I also vote, and we will see what happens,' he reiterated.

A table is needed to unlock construction in Milan

"The risk that Milan will come to a halt" because of the investigations on urban planning "is there, now the situation is a bit slowed down, then there is the situation of the people who have paid advances for construction that are at a standstill," Giuseppe explained, speaking of the situation of the families who have bought homes but are unable to get into them because of the blockage caused by the investigations. The families 'I also met them on Friday and I feel I can say what the president of the Court of Milan, Fabio Roia, said, that we need a table where all the protagonists are present,' he added, 'there must also be the builders and the agreement must be signed by the public prosecutor's office, we are working on it with the municipality's lawyer. We need everyone to lend a hand, this is not an issue that can be resolved between the municipality and the citizens'.