How much time passes from when the decision is taken to renovate an old building – whether public or private – to when it is actually possible to reopen it? You may find the answer shocking, but it is this: between five and ten years. A temporal black hole that results in decay and a sense of abandonment in cities, especially in countries like Italy, with its rich heritage of historic buildings and industrial archaeology and so many constructions that are often challenging to adapt and bring up to standard. Turning the interregnum into an opportunity is the goal that several Italian start-ups – from Kcity to Alcova – are setting themselves on the most diverse scales. Standing out for the size of the building volumes it has taken on is Urban Value, a company based in Rome that was set up around fifteen years ago as an off-shoot of the action marketing agency Ninetynine. “In 2011, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, we were looking for a space in Rome at which to relaunch Piaggio’s Vespa,” says the CEO Simone Mazzarelli. “The Colosseo Quadrato (Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana) in the EUR district had been abandoned for forty years. We held a big party there, which marked the first step towards the renascence of the building. The city’s reaction was enthusiastic.” A galvanizing experience which served to get Urban Value by Ninetynine off the ground, thanks to a collaboration with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (the Italian financial institution controlled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance that manages the savings bonds and passbooks of the Italian Postal Service and uses the proceeds to promote growth).

Since that time the start-up has made public assets like buildings, former military barracks and tram depots the focus of its temporary undertakings: over 300,000 square metres of space that, explains Mazzarelli, “have produced more than 70 million euros of spin-off in the cities involved.” The main activities hosted in these settings, part of whose attraction lies in their dilapidated charm, are art exhibitions and fashion shows, film and TV sets, trade fairs and markets. And then big parties, corporate events and non-profits. “Recently we have been exploring other formulas too,” explains project leader Alessandra Attena. “In Bologna for example we won in 2025 the tender for the former Boldrini barracks, giving rise to a project dubbed ‘Mid-Air – The Space between Things’. In this case the award was for only 300 days, less than a year. Given the shortage of accommodation for the young in the city, we came up with the idea of temporary co-housing for under 35s. The people who live there pay less than half the market price, but offer in exchange work in the exhibition spaces housed in the building.”

La Santissima project, developed in the former military hospital of Santissima Trinità delle Monache, in Naples, a complex owned by the State Property Agency that had been disused for thirty years. In partnership with Coop4art, the complex was turned in 2025 into a cultural and manufacturing hub with workshops, event halls, studios, a cinema and training spaces.

Thanks to Urban Value the Santissima Community Hub has also been operative in Naples since November 2025: 5,000 square metres of former military hospital put out for tender by the State Property Office for use for a temporary period of five years. “Here can be found a mix of all our usual activities,” says Attena. “Movie theatre and spaces for events. A cocktail bar. And then the Community, i.e. 40 entities working on the production of art and culture.” For the public administrations that are responsible for the properties, these operations represent a saving of passive management costs. For Urban Value the proceeds come from rents. For the city temporary use is a dress rehearsal, as it allows the impact of a definitive transformation to be gauged. They are to all effects and purposes win-win projects.

Forte Trionfale in Rome: a former military structure inaccessible for decades, it was turned in 2024 by Urban Value – in partnership with Difesa Servizi – into an urban space with a cultural, creative and productive orientation.Naples, Palazzo Fondi, utilized since 2018 for events linked to the cinema and now the headquarters of AGCOM, the Italian Communications Regulatory Authority.

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