Reuse radar

Palermo

Palermo publishes no list of empty buildings. What is public is the State's register — 24 buildings and compounds recorded as free, among them the ruined Palazzo Pandolfini in Via Alloro and the Rosolino Pilo barracks (11,760 m²) — a 2024 Region–State–City agreement naming seven disused buildings, and the City's confiscated property, 1,094 properties by its own count at 31 January 2026. The City's 2023–25 disposals plan lists 2,626 public-housing units, 374 warehouses and depots and 16 historic palaces for sale or reuse.

Vacant office spaceNot yet measured

Empty buildings on record5613 confirmed

On the map474buildings and sites from 10 open sources

Homes potential—not in the economic model’s office data yet

Office figures: No office-vacancy figure for Palermo turned up in the sources read on 9 Oct 2026; the national office-market reports cover Milan and Rome. Map built 2026-10-09.

Palermo city profile Reuse atlas: all of Europe

A tour in 3D

An empty building in Palermo, and what it could become

A building checked against today's sources and found empty — a site that could be well suited to the EHC model. A short film: how it could come back to life, with what our conversion check and economic model say it could hold. A potential we spotted, not a plan.

Together, room for ≈ 24 homes — a potential, not a plan.

Ex Convento dei Crociferi di S. NinfaVia Maqueda 206 · ≈ 24 homes

activated ground floor
shared rooms
furnished mid-term flats
affordable long-term homes

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.

The City's open-data portal publishes its property list (8,941 units, CC BY 4.0 IT) but it is dated 11 January 2018, has no vacancy field or coordinates, and 202 of its units are marked 'available' (disponibile) — not read onto the map.

Loading map…

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

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

Named empty by owners and public records

2 buildings that the owner or a public register records as empty — whole buildings of at least 1,500 m² whose plans suit homes on paper (band A in our conversion check), not ruins and not let for interim use. Each row says who records it empty and when. We have not been to them, and a record can be out of date; those we have confirmed empty ourselves are marked as tour stops.

Building	Floor area	Recorded empty by	Actions
Ex Convento dei Crociferi di S. NinfaOn the tourAs a partner 17th-century State convent, former tax school, in the old centre · Via Maqueda 206 · Agenzia del Demanio (State)	2,977 m²	State buildings offered to investors (Agenzia del Demanio, Portale Investitori) Owner's list · Agenzia del Demanio · 9 Oct 2026
Six industrial sheds at Via G. F. Langer 4 Compound of industrial sheds from a mafia confiscation · Via Giovan Francesco Langer 4 / Via E. Mattei · Agenzia del Demanio (State)	6,290 m²	Agenzia del Demanio — Immobili dello Stato (records PA0603002–006) Public register · European Housing Coop research · 9 Oct 2026

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.

Priority	Building	Floor area	Depth	Station	Conversion check
98	"quartiere della Trinita" "caserma Rosolino Pilo"Not confirmed yet Public building named vacant · "quartiere della Trinita'" "caserma Rosolino Pilo" Piazza della Vittoria 1 2 4 10 11 Via… · 1 other source nearby	11,760 m²	13.4 m	456 m	A fit only
81	Ex Convento dei Crociferi di S. NinfaConfirmed empty by EHCOnly as a partner Public building named vacant · 4 storeys · 2 other sources nearby	2,977 m²	15.1 m	986 m	A fit only
81	Ex Palazzo Pandolfini - Alloggi Gdf Public building named vacant · Ex Palazzo Pandolfini Via Alloro N 50- Via Riso N 17-19-21-27-29-31-33- · 2 other sources nearby	3,612 m²	12.9 m	713 m	A fit only
78	Fabbricato Monumentale On public land · "villa Arhens" S.lorenzo Colli (via Stazione S.lorenzo) · 1 other source nearby	4,000 m²	13.3 m	218 m	A fit only
77	Palazzo Carminello - Complesso Direzionale Public building named vacant · Palazzo Carminello · 4 storeys	2,091 m²	9.1 m	869 m	A fit only
73	Ospedali, case di cura, cliniche e assimilabili Public building named vacant · Ospedali, case di cura, cliniche e assimilabili	6,827 m²	—	69 m	—
71	Caserma G. Carini - Fabbricato a On public land · "s.vito" Piazza S.vito · 1 other source nearby	11,135 m²	10.5 m	571 m	A fit only
71	Fabbricato Adibito Ad Istituto Scolastico On public land · Fabbricato "colasanzio" Sito Via Montevergini · 1 other source nearby	3,699 m²	9.8 m	838 m	A fit only
71	Fabbricato per attività produttiva Public building named vacant · Fabbricato per attività produttiva (industriale, artigianale o agricola)	4,720 m²	39.7 m	622 m	A fit only
66	Ex Palazzo delle Finanze Public building named vacant · 1 other source nearby	14,224 m²	—	983 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

Historic centre — Piazza Marina, Via Maqueda and the Kalsa

The State's palaces cluster here: Ex Palazzo delle Finanze (14,224 m²), Palazzo della Zecca (8,710 m²), Palazzo Niscemi (4,096 m²), Palazzo Colasanzio (3,699 m²) and the Crociferi convent (2,977 m²) are all on the Agenzia del Demanio's investor portal.

Ex Palazzo delle Finanze: closed since 2004, definitive concession to the University expected autumn 2026
Five State palaces, about 34,000 m² gross, on the investor portal
Region–State–City agreement of April 2024 names the Finanze palace, Palazzo Zecca-Niscemi and the Cisterne Nervi

Risk: Heritage protection and a University claim on the Finanze palace (student residence) leave little for housing; most of these are offered for culture, tourism and offices.

2 sources

Arenella (north coast)

The former Chimica Arenella chemical works is the largest single redevelopment site the State and City have put out: four finalists in the Reinventing Cities competition, definitive bids due 18 July 2026.

Four finalist proposals, second phase opened 18 February 2026
No full remediation yet — only urgent safety measures
Also named in the City's 2023–25 disposals plan

Risk: Not remediated; the cost of cleaning the ground is left to the bidders, and a site-transfer agreement is still to be signed.

2 sources

Corso Calatafimi and Altarello (south-west)

Free-flagged State records on Corso Calatafimi — the Caserma Tukory (three buildings, about 3,000 m²) and Edificio D of the former Villa Stagno (4,953 m²) — and, close by, the Ex Manicomio e Carcere Militare (Corso Pisani, 3,864 m²) and Palazzo Ventimiglia (787 m²) on the investor portal.

Edificio D, Corso Calatafimi 404: 4,953 m², recorded free
Caserma Tukory: three records, 733 + 801 + 1,493 m², recorded free
Ex Manicomio e Carcere Militare, Corso Pisani 195–197: 3,864 m² on the investor portal

Risk: Several of the Caserma Tukory buildings carry the "Museo della Cuba" label, so some may be in cultural use; the Ex Manicomio is heritage-listed.

2 sources

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

Agenzia del Demanio — free State buildings and the investor portal

A co-op can ask the Agency for a concession, lease or purchase of a building on its investor portal (nine in Palermo, from Palazzo Ventimiglia at 787 m² to the Finanze palace at 14,224 m²) or of a building the register records as free. The Agency signed an intesa with the City and a framework agreement with the University on 22 March 2023 to rationalise State space and free buildings now held on costly leases.

2 sources

Allocation rule

Comune di Palermo — confiscated property

The City holds 1,094 properties transferred to its heritage after confiscation (31 January 2026); about 100 were assigned over the past two years and a call for about 200 more, for third-sector bodies, was being finalised to close in June 2026. The calls are aimed at third-sector bodies, so a co-op would apply through a non-profit partner; many units are used for the housing emergency.

1 source

La Sicilia — Il tesoro dei beni confiscati a Palermo (2026-03)

Public owner

Regione Siciliana, Agenzia del Demanio and the City — the 2024 agreement

Seven disused buildings are named (Ex Chimica Arenella, Ex Ospedale di via Ingegneros, Villa Pajno, Ex Palazzo delle Finanze, Cisterne Nervi, Palazzo Zecca-Niscemi, Ex palazzina Vespri); the Region acquires the Ingegneros hospital and the State gets a 99-year surface right. Housing is not the stated purpose, but a co-op can propose a use on a named building where the owner has not yet fixed one.

1 source

Regione Siciliana — accordo per valorizzare immobili pubblici a Palermo (2024-04)

Public owner

Comune di Palermo — disposals plan 2023–25

Approved by the council on 16 May 2023: 2,626 public-housing units, 29 kiosks, 16 historic palaces, 18 sports facilities, 4 schools and 374 warehouses and depots, with the Chimica Arenella and the Mattatoio named. Palazzo Barone, the San Basilio building and the ex Artigianelle palace were taken out of the plan. A co-op can bid for, or ask for a concession on, a palace or depot offered for sale.

1 source

BlogSicilia — Beni del Comune di Palermo, approvato il piano delle alienazioni (2023-05)

Signals to watch

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

2026-08-20
Finanze palace: University concession expected by autumn
The rector expects the definitive concession from the Demanio for a student residence in the building closed since 2004; works to start within the year, financed by a loan of about €100 million.
1 source
- Balarm (2026-08)
2026-03-07
1,094 confiscated properties in the City's heritage
City data at 31 January 2026: about 100 assigned in two years, a call for about 200 more for third-sector bodies due to close in June.
1 source
- La Sicilia (2026-03)
2026-02-18
Chimica Arenella: four finalists, second phase opens
Data room opened for the four teams; definitive proposals due 18 July 2026; remediation to be part of the bids.
1 source
- Balarm (2026-02)
2024-04-19
Region, State and City agree on seven disused buildings
The agreement names the Arenella, the Ingegneros hospital, Villa Pajno and four State buildings, and aims to cut 49 passive State leases in Palermo.
1 source
- Regione Siciliana (2024-04)

Sources and freshness

20 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

Source	Access	Records	Status	Licence
OpenStreetMap disused/abandoned tags and brownfields OpenStreetMap contributors	Open API	49	Live 2026-10-09	ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Rail, S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations (OpenStreetMap) OpenStreetMap contributors	Open API	scoring	Live 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 download	6 buildings sized	Live 2026-10-09	CC BY-NC 4.0 (heights); footprints from OpenStreetMap and Microsoft: ODbL
Heights: Carta Tecnica Comunale volume units (Comune di Palermo) Comune di Palermo Comune di Palermo — Carta Tecnica Comunale, Unità volumetriche (1:2,000, June 2021). The eaves height of the volume the building’s point sits in (ALTEZZA), turned into storeys over the building’s own outline. Shapefile zip (16 MB) read once. robots.txt: none on opendata.comune.palermo.it (9 Oct 2026).	Open download	47 buildings sized	Live 2026-10-09	CC BY 4.0 IT
Road noise (EU Environmental Noise Directive, Lden) European Environment Agency	Open API	scoring	Live 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 permission	0	Pending 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 download	0	Live 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 download	0	Live 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 API	124	Live 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 download	0	Live 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 research	0	Live 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 research	0	Live 2026-10-09	Cited publisher per point
Named buildings and sites from EHC research (each with its own source) European Housing Coop research	EHC research	7	Live 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 API	scoring	Live 2026-10-09	ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
State buildings recorded as free (Agenzia del Demanio) Agenzia del Demanio — Geoportale, Immobili dello Stato	Open API	24	Live 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 API	158	Live 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 API	9	Live 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 download	13	Snapshot 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 download	84	Snapshot 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 API	2	Live 2026-10-09	ODbL 1.0
Cultural heritage in danger in Palermo — Italia Nostra's Lista Rossa Italia Nostra APS — Lista Rossa dei beni culturali in pericolo	Open API	4	Live 2026-10-09	© Italia Nostra APS, no licence stated — only the name, the street, the list status and a link are kept (no descriptions or photos); credited to Italia Nostra

What this radar cannot see yet

The City's open-data portal publishes its property list (8,941 units, CC BY 4.0 IT) but it is dated 11 January 2018, has no vacancy field or coordinates, and 202 of its units are marked 'available' (disponibile) — not read onto the map.
ANBSC's confiscated-property export (openregio.anbsc.it) answered HTTP 504 on every request on 9 Oct 2026, so the State's own list of handed-over units is missing; the City's count (1,094) is from a newspaper report, not a downloadable list.
The Treasury's 2022 property census has the housing institute (IACP) and the City declaring most of their buildings 'not used' — wholesale entries, so left out; that leaves no vacancy figure for public housing in Palermo.
No open regional building layer with ruins or heights was found for Sicily; the City publishes its 2021 technical-map volumes (100,432 units with height, CC BY 4.0 IT) but they are not yet read as floor areas.
The State's sales portal (venditaimmobili.agenziademanio.it) lists lots for sale in Palermo province as web pages with no coordinates; not wired.

Know an empty building we have missed?

Open data cannot see everything. Tell us about a building in Palermo 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

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.

Bari918 Bologna87 Catania217 Florence71 Genoa174 Messina71 Milan504 Naples255 Podgorica9 Rome1,114 Sarajevo61 Tirana38 Turin98 Valletta7 Verona55