The urban renewal and regeneration project forthe former Santa Chiara convent in Piacenza is getting underway. This historic complex, located on Stradone Farnese, will be converted into a space dedicated to hospitality, inclusion, and community services. The laying of the cornerstone marks the start of the area’s redevelopment project, entrusted to the firm Stefano Boeri Interiors, which will cover a complex of approximately 12,000 square meters, 8,500 of which will be designated as green space.
CDP President Giovanni Gorno Tempini attended the ceremony. Also present were Piacenza Mayor Katia Tarasconi, Roberto Reggi, president of the Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano, Arturo Nattino, president of Investire SGR (Banca Finnat Group), architect Giorgio Donà—Founding Partner and director of Stefano Boeri Interiors—engineer Paolo Milani, other professionals from Piacenza involved in the project, and representatives from local institutions, the third sector, and universities.
The project was initiated by the Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano and involves the restoration of the historic buildings of the former convent, which will house a new university residence and a facility dedicated to social and welfare services. Management of the student residence will be entrusted to RELIFE, an Italian company specializing in the management of student housing, while the new Residential Social-Rehabilitation Center, designed for vulnerable individuals and those with disabilities, will be managed by the Unicoop cooperative.
The project will provide a total of approximately 300 units distributed among the university residence, social housing, and social care services, with the goal of creating a community open to the city and fostering integration among diverse housing and care needs.
The project has a total value of approximately 30 million euros and is being carried out through iGeneration, a closed-end alternative real estate investment fund promoted and managed by Investire SGR, a company of the Banca Finnat Group. Participants in the fund include CDP Real Asset SGR, a real estate company of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Group; the European Investment Fund; several banking-affiliated foundations, including the Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano; pension funds; and banking institutions. The project’s financing plan is complemented by a loan granted by Banca di Piacenza.
“The Santa Chiara project demonstrates how urban regeneration can become a powerful driver of growth, inclusion, and the revitalization of local communities,” says Giovanni Gorno Tempini, President of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. “The project combines university housing, services for the most vulnerable, and the restoration of a historic asset of great value to the Piacenza community. This is the direction in which the CDP Group, including through the efforts of CDP Real Asset SGR, intends to continue: supporting the development of accessible, high-quality housing solutions; fostering the growth of the social housing and student housing markets; and promoting investments capable of generating lasting benefits for local communities. This achievement was made possible thanks to the fruitful collaboration with the Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano, as well as all the partners involved in the initiative and the Fund.”
“The laying of the cornerstone represents a moment of great symbolic and practical significance for our community,” emphasizes Roberto Reggi, president of the Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano. “With the restoration of the former Santa Chiara convent, a project that the Foundation has strongly championed and supported is finally getting underway, with the goal of restoring to the city an important part of its historic center, as well as a place of extraordinary significance to its identity. Santa Chiara will not merely be an architectural regeneration project, but a hub for social inclusion and innovation: a space open to young people, thanks to the new university housing, and at the same time dedicated to welcoming and caring for the most vulnerable members of our community. It is a forward-looking project that prioritizes quality of life, social cohesion, and the enhancement of cultural heritage. It is significant that the first step in this journey is marked by the start of construction on a public space—our open-air auditorium—which all citizens will be able to enjoy, fostering opportunities, relationships, and well-being. Today we are taking a decisive step toward realizing this vision, which has required sustained commitment, tenacity, and a spirit of collaboration. For this reason, I thank the institutions, professionals, investors, and all those who have contributed to making it possible to reach the implementation phase of this project.”
“With the laying of the cornerstone,” says Katia Tarasconi, mayor of Piacenza, “we are embarking on a journey that not only restores to our community a historical, architectural, and cultural heritage of extraordinary value, but also makes a decisive contribution to promoting and strengthening Piacenza’s identity as a City of Universities, by enhancing services and the quality of hospitality for a constantly growing student population—particularly those coming from outside the city and from abroad. At the same time, the integration of an inclusive approach to supporting the most vulnerable—aimed at providing concrete solutions to a priority issue such as end-of-life care— makes this urban regeneration project a model of social innovation, for which I thank the Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano and all the partners who believed in this project, which is so important for the future of our region.”
“The most forward-thinking investments are those capable of addressing the housing challenge for new generations by offering accessible, high-quality housing solutions,” states Arturo Nattino, president of Investire SGR (Banca Finnat Group). “For this reason, we are proud to kick off construction at the former Santa Chiara convent through the iGeneration fund. This complex has had many lives, from a Franciscan monastery in the 11th century, to a place that sheltered nuns and women in need in 1845, to the arrival of the Xaverian Fathers a century later. Soon, this historic site will be able to accommodate college students, addressing the shortage of housing in the city. The Piacenza project highlights the city’s historical heritage and demonstrates how the synergy between institutions and patient capital can generate a virtuous, replicable public-private partnership model that is strongly focused on the future of young college students.”
“The Arena Santa Chiara aims to be the new meeting point and nexus between historical memory, research, and innovation, perspectives, and diversity, thereby creating a vibrant, open space capable of fostering new forms of cultural and social participation,” concludes Giorgio Donà, Founding Partner and Director of Stefano Boeri Interiors. “The project, therefore, cannot be described or summarized solely through an architectural act; rather, it becomes a catalyst for an unprecedented and ongoing dialogue between rediscovered historical traces and the ever-evolving need to build new identities. The Arena Santa Chiara is a flexible space, designed to adapt to a variety of needs, aiming to give the city back an inclusive environment dedicated to gathering, culture, and sharing. An underground space accessible to all and adaptable to a multitude of functions.”
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| Piacenza: Work Begins on the Renovation of the Former Santa Chiara Convent Designed by Boeri—a 30-million Investment |
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