Skip to content
Reuse radar

Rome

Rome has no public register of empty buildings, but the State publishes which of its 2,900 properties in the city stand free, and the City maps its offices, barracks, hospitals and industrial complexes in its general plan. Lazio is the only region with a law that lets a co-op recover an empty public building with its members' own work (autorecupero), though Rome has not opened a new call since the first projects.
An empty building in Rome with homes, balconies and neighbours drawn onto it in ink
Empty buildings on record
1,138
and 8 more with an empty shop, flat or floor
Vacant office space
7.8%
of the office stock
Homes potential
≈ 2,764
if 30% of empty offices converted

Office figures: BNP Paribas Real Estate, Q2 2026 — 7.8% of Rome's offices vacant, 1.1% in the CBD, 8.9% in Greater EUR and 18.0% in the periphery; the report gives no vacant floor area as a figure. Homes: our economic model’s conversion engine. Map built 2026-10-09.

Empty buildings in Rome

One point per building, from public records, open data and cited reports. Filter by type, size and how sure the evidence is; open one to see who says so and whether it could become homes.

The City's open-data portal (dati.comune.roma.it, 365 datasets, read 8 Oct 2026) publishes nothing on City property, empty buildings or confiscated property; www.comune.roma.it answers automated requests with a security block, so the City's own lists were not read.

Loading map…
Colour = type of building named officially likely reported
Missing a building?

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

7 more buildings in Rome reported in the news, not yet on the map

The articles do not give an address we could place, so these have no pin yet. From news reports, summed up in our own words with a link to each article — not checked on site by EHC.

  • Ex clinica Madonna delle Rose — reported conversion planned · formerly hospital · owner: Sapienza Università di RomaThe long-disused late-1960s clinic at Tor Lupara will become a student residence and research centre with €5.5 m of regional funds. Abitare a Roma (2025-06-30)
  • Ex Poligrafico dello Stato, piazza Verdi — reported converted · formerly administrative offices · owner: Cassa depositi e prestitiAbandoned for over 20 years, the renovated building retains office use and has been leased to Enel Corriere della Sera Roma (2024-11-18)
  • Ex scuola della Ferratella, via Comisso 23 — reported conversion under way · formerly school · Public ownerThe former Ferratella school, being refurbished as a shelter and Housing First service for homeless people, still sees squatting; entrances were walled. RomaToday (2025-10-31)
  • fabbrica dismessa a Tor Sapienza — reported conversion planned · formerly industrial building · 2,400 m²A disused 2,400 m² industrial site in Tor Sapienza is to become cohousing for about 40 households, run with Sant'Egidio. Forbes Italia (2026-03-23)
  • Palazzina La Certezza, via Federico Fiorentini — reported conversion planned · formerly residential building · 15 flats · owner: Roma CapitaleThe city will borrow to finish a bare-shell block of 15 public rental flats at Colle Fiorito, abandoned unfinished by a building co-operative since 2004. RomaToday (2026-02-05)
  • Stabili RFI di via della Casilina Vecchia, via della Casilina Vecchia — reported empty · formerly residential building · 8 buildings, 25 flats · owner: RFIPolice cleared eight railway-owned buildings by the tracks, seizing 25 flats occupied since 2022. Abitare a Roma (2024-07-26)
  • The Dente — reported conversion planned · owner: Patrimonio del ComuneThe municipal property is proposed for student or worker housing, services, or tourist accommodation Corriere della Sera Roma (2026-02-27)

Where conversion makes sense, and who to talk to

The districts where empty space, the right zoning and a working neighbourhood come together, and the owners and programmes that open a door. 7.8% of the office stock stands empty (the floor area is not published).

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

Centro storico, Esquilino and Castro Pretorio (Municipio I)

The densest cluster of State buildings recorded as free, and of offices, barracks and public-administration buildings in the City's plan.

  • 22 State records free or partly free (≥ 400 m²), about 112,000 m² gross
  • 135 State buildings of 1,000 m² or more in use
  • 509 special-type buildings in the Carta per la Qualità

Risk: Short-term letting and hotels compete for every central building; much of the free State space is in historic complexes with strict heritage rules.

2 sources

Flaminio, Tor di Quinto and Farnesina (Municipio XV)

Military lodgings and barracks buildings recorded as free at the Tor di Quinto compound, along with other State space in the north.

  • 21 State records free or partly free, about 195,000 m² gross (147,000 m² of it the Farnesina record)
  • Caserma Salvo d'Acquisto lodgings (about 15,300 m²) and two Navy lodging blocks recorded as free

Risk: The biggest 'free' record is the Farnesina, which is plainly in use — the flag needs checking building by building; military land is released slowly.

1 source

Ostiense and Garbatella (Municipio VIII)

Rome's old industrial riverside: the disused Mercati Generali, the former fair grounds and the gasworks quarter, close to Roma Tre university.

  • Ex Mercati Generali: about 9 ha of City land, disused since the early 2000s
  • Ex Fiera di Roma: 35,000 m² of homes planned, over 7,000 m² of it social housing
  • 99 special-type buildings in the Carta per la Qualità

Risk: The largest sites are already in funds' hands with student housing and private homes planned.

2 sources

EUR and the periphery office districts (Municipio IX and beyond)

Rome's office vacancy sits outside the centre: 8.9% in Greater EUR and 18.0% in the periphery, against 1.1% in the CBD.

  • Periphery office vacancy 18.0% (Q2 2026)
  • 8 State records free in Municipio IX, about 47,000 m² gross
  • 51 State buildings of 1,000 m² or more in use in Municipio IX

Risk: EUR's large office blocks are deep-plan and often let to public bodies; conversion needs a change of use under the general plan.

2 sources

Signals to watch

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

  1. 2026-10-0825 State properties in Rome on the Demanio's investor portal

    The State lists 25 Rome properties for reuse; 16 of them coincide with buildings its own register records as free, which makes those 'free' flags credible.

    1 source
  2. 2026-07-16About 1,000 empty ATER homes, by a tenants' union count

    ASIA-USB puts empty ATER homes at about 1,000 against about 17,000 families on the waiting list; the figure is the union's own.

    1 source
  3. 2026-07Office vacancy 7.8%, 18% in the periphery

    Vacancy rose 20 basis points in the quarter; the CBD stays at 1.1% while the periphery reached 18.0%.

    1 source
3 earlier signals
  1. 2026-04-14
    Forlanini passes from the Region to the State

    A parliamentary question records the 2025 law moving the hospital, closed since 2015, to the State for a new Bambino Gesù hospital.

    1 source
  2. 2026-03-12
    State seeks partners for social housing at Tor Vergata

    The Demanio presented a 70,000 m² social and student housing scheme around the unfinished Città dello Sport; the partnership call ran to 30 June 2026.

    1 source
  3. 2025-12-30
    City buys 336 Enasarco homes, 702 more due in 2026

    Roma Capitale signed the first tranche of 1,040 homes bought for public housing, about €250m in all.

    1 source

Sources, and what we cannot see

24 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.

Every source, its licence and when we last read it
SourceAccessRecordsStatusLicence
OpenStreetMap disused/abandoned tags and brownfields
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open API1,174Live
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 download1,631 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 API760Live
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
Includes the library’s public lighthouse conversions (src/scripts/data/reuse/lighthouses.json), shown under "Already converting" with a link to their library page.
EHC research10Live
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 API99Live
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 API430Live
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
Offices, public-administration, industrial, barracks, hospital and department-store buildings in the City's Carta per la Qualità
Roma Capitale — Dipartimento Programmazione e Attuazione Urbanistica (PRG 2008, Carta per la Qualità, via GeoRoma)
Open API1,297Live
2026-10-09
No licence stated on the GeoRoma OGC service (Fees and AccessConstraints 'none') — credited to Roma Capitale; shown under the 6 Oct 2026 licence decision
OpenStreetMap: land mapped as brownfield
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open API63Live
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0
State buildings offered to investors (Agenzia del Demanio, Portale Investitori)
Agenzia del Demanio — Crea valore, investi con noi (investor portal)
Open API22Live
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
Property confiscated from organised crime and handed to public bodies (ANBSC)
Agenzia nazionale per l'amministrazione e la destinazione dei beni sequestrati e confiscati (ANBSC) — OpenRE.G.I.O.
Manual download154Snapshot
2026-10-09
IODL 2.0 (Italian Open Data Licence, linked from the portal)
Public buildings their owner records as not used (Treasury property census 2023)
Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze, Dipartimento dell'Economia — Rilevazione dei beni immobili delle amministrazioni pubbliche (data at 31 Dec 2023)
Manual download33Snapshot
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 2023)
Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze, Dipartimento dell'Economia — Rilevazione dei beni immobili delle amministrazioni pubbliche (data at 31 Dec 2023)
Manual download647Snapshot
2026-10-09
CC BY 4.0 (stated on the MEF open-data page; reuse with the source credited)
Cultural heritage in danger in Rome — Italia Nostra's Lista Rossa
Italia Nostra APS — Lista Rossa dei beni culturali in pericolo
Open API9Live
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
Buildings named in the news (each with its article)
Local and national press, read by EHC
Buildings the news reports empty, for sale or to let, to be demolished or being converted (src/scripts/data/reuse/news-building-leads.json; rules in src/lib/reuse/news-layer.ts). A report that names a building already on the map is shown on its card instead of a second point; one an open source contradicted, or that says the building is in use, is left out. Not checked on site.
EHC research43Live
2026-10-14
Facts with a link to the article; the one-line summary is ours — no article text is republished
Era of the buildings around it: ISTAT census 2011 (census sections)
Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Residential buildings by period of construction (E8–E16) in the record’s 2011 census section — the last census that asked; not the building itself. An era only where 60% fall within 30 years.
Open downloadscoringLive
2026-10-14
CC BY 4.0
Probable era: estimated from a street photo (Panoramax, Mapillary, Google Street View)
Panoramax and Mapillary contributors; Google Street View (research use agreed with Google, 14 Oct 2026); estimate by EHC with a vision model
Where no register dates a building: its era read from a Panoramax or Mapillary photo looking at it — Google Street View only where no open photo answers (scripts/reuse/estimate-photo-eras.ts), only when the building is clearly visible and the model is confident, and only as “before 1945” or “1945 or later” — the split it got right for 89% of buildings with a register year in Amsterdam and Paris, and 89% from Street View pictures alone (photo-eras/calibration.json). An estimate: a sentence in the conversion check, never points.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-14
Open photos CC BY-SA 4.0 or Licence Ouverte 2.0 (per picture); Street View read for research only, never stored or shown; only the estimated era is published, never a photo

What this radar cannot see yet

  • The City's open-data portal (dati.comune.roma.it, 365 datasets, read 8 Oct 2026) publishes nothing on City property, empty buildings or confiscated property; www.comune.roma.it answers automated requests with a security block, so the City's own lists were not read.
  • The City's property map (MPIC) and its plan layers of City-owned, confiscated and returned property are not published to anonymous users on GeoRoma.
  • Confiscated property still managed by ANBSC (1,266 units in Rome) is published without addresses.
  • The State's 'free' flag is unreliable in Rome: it marks buildings plainly in use, so a point needs a second source or a desk check.
  • The aerial photo (AGEA 2020, Regione Lazio's geoportal) is not openly licensed: AGEA keeps all rights. It is shown for co-operative housing on Jonathan Imme's decision of 9 Oct 2026 and comes off on request.
  • Office vacancy is published by submarket, not by building.

Know an empty building we have missed?

Open data cannot see everything. Tell us about a building in Rome 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 149 cities in the atlas

The figure on each card: empty buildings on record.

Bari, Italy923empty buildings on recordBologna, Italy95empty buildings on recordCatania, Italy226empty buildings on recordFlorence, Italy75empty buildings on recordGenoa, Italy176empty buildings on recordLjubljana, Slovenia48empty buildings on recordMessina, Italy72empty buildings on recordMilan, Italy535empty buildings on recordMonaco, Monaco2empty buildings on recordNaples, Italy265empty buildings on recordNice, France48empty buildings on recordPalermo, Italy61empty buildings on recordTurin, Italy100empty buildings on recordVerona, Italy59empty buildings on recordZagreb, Croatia212empty buildings on record