The number of data centers in Italy has increased to 209, from 168 in 2024. In Europe, there are over 3,500. Lombardy remains the primary core, with 43 centers already operational and another ten under construction. Milan and Rome continue to draw the majority of new hyperscale investments. The Italian Data Center Association (IDA) refers to it as an "infrastructure supercycle": 250 MW of new capacity is planned in 2026, more than 1 GW in 2028, and up to 2 GW by 2031, which is six times the 2024 figure. Artificial intelligence and cloud computing are driving demand, as is the government's goal of migrating a significant share of public services to authorized national clouds. The most remarkable figure comes from Terna: grid connection requests for new data centers reached 95.38 GW in August, up from around 1 GW in 2021. However, a significant fraction of these requests are unlikely to result in actual installations. The IDA estimates showed lower-than-expected growth. Energy expenses, connection lineups, and lengthy permission times risk undermining the country’s competitiveness.