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Reuse radar

Catania

Catania has no register of empty buildings. The visible empties are the old hospitals of the Antico Corso quarter: Santa Marta, open to anyone with unstable ceilings (30 December 2025); Santo Bambino, which caught fire on 27 April 2026 and was approved in 2022 for student housing; and Vittorio Emanuele, now being converted into the Etna Museum with a part for student residences (€25 million, works due in 2026). The State records 11 buildings as free and offers the Ex Caserma Moccagatta (1,903 m²) to investors; the City and the housing institute declare hundreds of units 'not used' in the Treasury's 2022 census.
Vacant office spaceNot yet measured
Empty buildings on record2173 confirmed
On the map567buildings and sites from 9 open sources
Homes potential—not in the economic model’s office data yet

Office figures: No office-vacancy figure for Catania turned up in the sources read on 9 Oct 2026. Map built 2026-10-09.

Catania city profileReuse atlas: all of Europe

The map

Every building a record says stands empty, one point per building: filter by type, size and how sure the evidence is, and open one to see who says so. “Opportunities” switches to the co-op lens: public land, conversion potential and projects already under way, every source as its own layer.

No vacancy register and no open property list: the City of Catania's open-data hosts tried on 9 Oct 2026 (opendata.comune.catania.it, dati.comune.catania.it) returned no catalogue.

Loading map…

0 empty buildings · colour = type, dark ring = confirmed

Check any building in Catania: could it become homes, and could the EHC model work there?

Where to look first

Buildings with evidence that they stand empty — a second source agrees, a public record names them, or we have checked them — ranked by a score you can read: co-op scale, daylight depth, a station nearby, a zone that allows homes, affordable land and an open route in. Checked buildings carry their result; nobody has visited them on site yet. Leerstandsmelder reports join the list when they sit in a large non-residential building and a second source agrees.

PriorityBuildingFloor areaDepthStationConversion checkActions
88Palazzina Uffici
Public building named vacant · Uffici Sede Dia · 4 storeys
3,769 m²18.2 m306 mA fit only
79Teatro, cinematografo, struttura per concerti e spettacoli e assimilabili
Public building named vacant · Teatro, cinematografo, struttura per concerti e spettacoli e assimilabili
1,622 m²13.6 m321 mA fit only
73Aula Grandi Udienze Bicocca
Public building named vacant · Seconda Aula Grandi Udienze Bicocca (aula Bunker)
10,314 m²4.8 m1,697 mB fit only
66Edificio del Genio Civile
Public building named vacant · 1 other source nearby
4,691 m²—935 m—
61Comando Nucleo Provinciale Polizia Tributaria
On public land · Comando Nucleo Provinciale Polizia Tributaria · 3 other sources nearby
3,015 m²19 m629 mA fit only
60Ex Caserma Moccagatta
Public building named vacant · 2 other sources nearby
1,903 m²—669 m—

Districts where conversion makes sense

Where empty offices, the right zoning and a working neighbourhood come together — and what could go wrong.

A hand outlining a neighbourhood on a city map, with small houses drawn inside

Antico Corso and the old hospitals (historic centre)

Three former hospitals stand within a few streets: Santa Marta (abandoned), Santo Bambino (closed, fire in April 2026) and Vittorio Emanuele (under conversion). They are the best-documented large empty buildings in the city.

  • Santa Marta: open to anyone, abandoned documents, 30 December 2025
  • Santo Bambino: Region approved a free loan to ERSU for student housing on 14 April 2022; PNRR funds would cover 75% of costs
  • Vittorio Emanuele: €25 million for a museum and student residences

Risk: Each already has a claimant — the Region, the university hospital trust and the student agency ERSU — and the buildings are old and heritage-sensitive.

2 sources

Crociferi and Gesuiti (baroque centre)

The State records two buildings here: the Ex Caserma Moccagatta (1,903 m², offered to investors) and a Guardia di Finanza building in the former assize court (866 m², partly free).

  • Via dei Gesuiti 74–80: Ex Caserma Moccagatta, 1,903 m² gross
  • Via Crociferi 2: 866 m² partly free

Risk: Small, heritage-sensitive buildings in the baroque centre; the State's intended uses are tourism, culture and housing.

2 sources

North and south edge: Ognina, Genio Civile and Primosole

Larger State buildings flagged free sit on the city edge: the Genio Civile building (4,691 m²), an office block at Via Vecchia Ognina (3,769 m²) and the four-building Centro Prova Autoveicoli at Primosole (about 4,150 m²).

  • Via Lago di Nicito 89: 4,691 m² partly free
  • Via Vecchia Ognina 168: 3,769 m² free
  • Primosole: palazzine A–D, 670–1,320 m² each

Risk: Office and workshop buildings far from the centre; the free flags may mean part-use.

1 source

Owners and routes in

Who controls the space, and what a housing cooperative can actually do with them.

A door key on a doorstep with a drawn path leading to an open door
Public owner

ERSU, the Policlinico trust and the Region — Santo Bambino

The regional government approved on 14 April 2022 a free loan (comodato) of the former Santo Bambino hospital from the Policlinico trust to ERSU, the regional student agency, for student housing with PNRR funds (75% of costs). Whether it went ahead is not confirmed after the building's fire on 27 April 2026; a co-op would need to approach ERSU or the trust.

2 sources

Signals to watch

Decisions, auctions and closures that change what becomes available, and when.

  1. 2026-06-05
    Etna Museum works at the ex Vittorio Emanuele hospital run a few months late

    €25 million from the Region; part of the complex goes to university student residences; completion expected in 2026.

    1 source
  2. 2026-04-27
    Fire at the ex Santo Bambino hospital

    A fire on the ground floor, where household goods were stored, was put out by the fire brigade; no one was inside; the cause is under investigation.

    1 source
  3. 2025-12-30
    Ex Santa Marta hospital found open and decaying

    A residents' committee asks who is responsible for the safety of the abandoned Antico Corso hospital.

    1 source

Sources and freshness

18 sources connected, 1 waiting for access. We only use data we may lawfully reuse; where a publisher blocks automated access we do not work around it — a person downloads it, or we ask for permission.

Show every source, its licence and when we last read it
SourceAccessRecordsStatusLicence
OpenStreetMap disused/abandoned tags and brownfields
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open API219Live
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Rail, S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations (OpenStreetMap)
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Building heights: GlobalBuildingAtlas (TU Munich)
Zhu, X. X., Chen, S., Zhang, F., Shi, Y., Wang, Y. (2025), Technical University of Munich
GlobalBuildingAtlas: an open global and complete dataset of building polygons, heights and LoD1 3D models. Earth System Science Data 17(12), 6647–6668, doi:10.5194/essd-17-6647-2025. Read from the Parquet copy on Source Cooperative. Satellite-derived heights (typically 1.5–3 m error in Europe), turned into storeys with storey heights fitted on Berlin; used only where no register or official 3D model sizes the building.
Open download178 buildings sizedLive
2026-10-09
CC BY-NC 4.0 (heights); footprints from OpenStreetMap and Microsoft: ODbL
Road noise (EU Environmental Noise Directive, Lden)
European Environment Agency
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
EEA standard re-use policy (attribution)
Leerstandsmelder.de — public reports of empty buildings
Leerstandsmelder (Gängeviertel e.V., Hamburg)
Shown while we ask Leerstandsmelder for permission. Reports since 2016 only, with the address, the month reported and a link to each entry; not checked by EHC. Each point says when a report has since been marked demolished, lived in, in interim use or rebuilt on Leerstandsmelder, and the owner type the reporter gave (private owners are never named).
Asking for permission0Pending
2026-10-09
Credited to Leerstandsmelder.de; asking for permission
Open-ended property funds: buildings they report partly empty
Open-ended real-estate funds (each point names its fund and report)
German and Austrian open-ended public property funds must list every property with its vacancy (or letting) rate in their annual and half-year reports. scripts/reuse/import-fund-reports.ts reads those lists; properties at 10 % vacancy or more are shown, those at 25 % or more count as evidence.
Open download0Live
2026-10-09
Published fund report (KAGB / KARBV property list), cited per point
Co-working spaces, department stores, banks, hotels and cinemas listed as permanently closed
Overture Maps Foundation (closure data: BrightQuery company records)
Places with operating_status "permanently_closed" in the monthly Overture release, read by scripts/reuse/import-overture-closures.ts and matched to the building they sit in. A closed business is usually one unit; names are shown only for companies, never for sole traders.
Open download0Live
2026-10-09
CDLA Permissive 2.0 (Overture Maps Foundation)
Land without current use and stalled construction, mapped from satellite imagery (Copernicus Urban Atlas 2006–2018)
European Environment Agency — Copernicus Land Monitoring Service
Urban Atlas class 13400 (brownfields, demolition sites and gaps in the built-up area, 0.25 ha and up) compared across the 2006, 2012 and 2018 editions, so each plot says how long it has stood unused; plus construction sites (13300) already under way in 2012, and 2012 construction sites left unused by 2018. Read from the EEA's open ArcGIS services, the same way in every radar city. The 2021 edition (Copernicus Data Space) drops plots built on since 2018 where scripts/reuse/import-urban-atlas-2021.ts has been run. Points are context, never evidence of vacancy.
Open API91Live
2026-10-09
Copernicus open data (© European Union, Copernicus Land Monitoring Service 2006–2021, EEA)
Office buildings of 1,000 m² or more, with depth and storeys (EUBUCCO)
EUBUCCO (TU Berlin / ai4up), from the Spanish cadastre, Regione Lombardia’s building database and OpenStreetMap
EUBUCCO harmonises Europe's building footprints with their use, height and age. Only buildings whose source names the use are kept — the cadastre's office class in Barcelona and Madrid, Lombardy's "commerciale" in Milan, building=office in OpenStreetMap for Dublin and Lisbon — never EUBUCCO's machine-learning guesses. The footprint gives the plan depth, so the conversion score treats them like the German cadastre's offices (scripts/reuse/import-eubucco.ts → src/scripts/data/reuse/eubucco/, ODbL).
Open download0Live
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (EUBUCCO v0.2; Dirección General del Catastro, Regione Lombardia, © OpenStreetMap contributors)
Stalled construction and buildings held by insolvent developers
EHC research (dated press and court sources per point)
Signa, Adler/Consus and other developer insolvencies since 2022 and stalled sites, each with its latest dated status (src/scripts/data/reuse/stalled-projects.json; news leads from scripts/reuse/mine-news.ts are reviewed before they join).
EHC research0Live
2026-10-09
Cited publisher per point
Church buildings the dioceses and regional churches plan to give up
Catholic dioceses and Protestant regional churches (their building plans), via EHC research
Buildings a church body’s published building plan or recent reporting names as to be given up, without church funding, for sale or lease, or profaned (src/scripts/data/reuse/church-plans.json and brussels-churches.json).
EHC research0Live
2026-10-09
Cited publisher per point
Named buildings and sites from EHC research (each with its own source)
European Housing Coop research
EHC research4Live
2026-10-09
Facts cited to their publishers
Year built and listing: OpenStreetMap building tags
OpenStreetMap contributors
start_date / construction_date and heritage / listed_status of the OpenStreetMap outline a record is matched to, where no register answers. Read with the outline match, not a separate query.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
State buildings recorded as free (Agenzia del Demanio)
Agenzia del Demanio — Geoportale, Immobili dello Stato
Open API11Live
2026-10-09
No licence stated on the map service — credited to Agenzia del Demanio (its open-data files are CC BY 3.0 IT); shown under the 6 Oct 2026 licence decision
State-owned buildings of 1,000 m² or more in use (Agenzia del Demanio)
Agenzia del Demanio — Geoportale, Immobili dello Stato
Open API26Live
2026-10-09
No licence stated on the map service — credited to Agenzia del Demanio (its open-data files are CC BY 3.0 IT); shown under the 6 Oct 2026 licence decision
State buildings offered to investors (Agenzia del Demanio, Portale Investitori)
Agenzia del Demanio — Crea valore, investi con noi (investor portal)
Open API1Live
2026-10-09
No licence stated on the map service — credited to Agenzia del Demanio (its open-data files are CC BY 3.0 IT); shown under the 6 Oct 2026 licence decision
Public buildings their owner records as not used (Treasury property census 2022)
Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze, Dipartimento dell'Economia — Rilevazione dei beni immobili delle amministrazioni pubbliche (data at 31 Dec 2022)
Manual download3Snapshot
2026-10-09
CC BY 4.0 (stated on the MEF open-data page; reuse with the source credited)
Public flats, shops and stores their owner records as not used (Treasury property census 2022)
Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze, Dipartimento dell'Economia — Rilevazione dei beni immobili delle amministrazioni pubbliche (data at 31 Dec 2022)
Manual download208Snapshot
2026-10-09
CC BY 4.0 (stated on the MEF open-data page; reuse with the source credited)
OpenStreetMap: land mapped as brownfield
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open API4Live
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0

What this radar cannot see yet

  • No vacancy register and no open property list: the City of Catania's open-data hosts tried on 9 Oct 2026 (opendata.comune.catania.it, dati.comune.catania.it) returned no catalogue.
  • ANBSC's confiscated-property export (openregio.anbsc.it) answered HTTP 504 on every request on 9 Oct 2026, so the confiscated-property layer is missing.
  • The Treasury's 2022 census shows the City declaring 1,109 buildings 'not used' (1,085 shops) and the IACP 913 of 5,438 units; these are shown as leads but are self-declared and unchecked.
  • Ownership of the Antico Corso hospitals is only partly stated in the sources read (Santo Bambino: the Policlinico trust; Santa Marta: not stated).
  • No regional ruins or building-height layer for Sicily was found; floor areas come from the Global Building Atlas.

Know an empty building we have missed?

Open data cannot see everything. Tell us about a building in Catania that stands empty or barely used; once we have checked it, it joins the map under “Reported by visitors (checked)”.

A phone held up to photograph an empty shopfront, with a map pin drawn above it

We publish the address, the kind of building and your description once we have checked it — never your email. Please do not name the people who own or live in a building.

Radars nearby

The other radars in the same country and the nearest beyond. All 134 cities in the atlas

The figure on each card: empty buildings on record.

Bari, Italy918empty buildings on recordBologna, Italy87empty buildings on recordFlorence, Italy71empty buildings on recordGenoa, Italy174empty buildings on recordMessina, Italy71empty buildings on recordMilan, Italy504empty buildings on recordNaples, Italy255empty buildings on recordPalermo, Italy56empty buildings on recordPodgorica, Montenegro9empty buildings on recordRome, Italy1,114empty buildings on recordSkopje, North Macedonia41empty buildings on recordTirana, Albania38empty buildings on recordTurin, Italy98empty buildings on recordValletta, Malta7empty buildings on recordVerona, Italy55empty buildings on record