Milan is big and powerful, and therefore it needs values
Prestigious neighbourhood in Milan. Photo Canva.com, AFP, Miguel Medina
Christian Life
Building housing areas involves a lot of money. Earning or losing causes stress, which makes corruption more self-evident. Chiara Lamberti writes about this from Italy.
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The Milan public prosecutor’s office is conducting a wide-reaching investigation into alleged urban planning offences involving entrepreneurs, members of the political elite, real estate operators, and high-profile city officials. The inquiry has been ongoing for about two years already. However, tensions have escalated recently as the city’s mayor, Beppe Sala, has also been investigated. Other municipal officials, for whom arrest has been requested, have felt compelled to resign from their posts.
The prosecutors allege the existence of a “hidden system” that favoured the approval of large construction projects using urban planning exemptions and administrative procedures tailored to private interests. In some cases, this meant circumventing or bending the rules purportedly for the public good, ultimately leading to “uncontrolled building” expansion. The projects under scrutiny concern the city’s central, highly symbolic areas – this is what has many so concerned.
Engine
Milan is recognised as Italy’s economic engine, the country’s most “European” city, and a place perpetually looking toward the future. In recent years, the so-called “Milanese dream” has prompted a wave of internal migration from young Italians attracted by the city’s avant-garde aura, setting it apart from the rest of the country.
In the Italian imagination, Milan symbolises economic strength, entrepreneurial spirit, and administrative excellence, functioning as the hoped-for counterweight to the stereotypes of corruption and stagnation historically associated with the south.
This investigation, therefore, is not a mere technicality. It strikes at the very heart of Italy’s aspirations to break free of a culture of corruption. As of now, the investigation has led to the slowing or outright freezing of around 150 urban projects, worth an estimated 12 billion euros in investments that are now at risk. This creates both political and administrative uncertainty and, in effect, paralyses the city.
In recent years, Milan appeared unstoppable: economic growth soared, and skyrocketing housing and consumer prices rendered it an elite city and an aspirational destination for those dreaming of career and personal advancement. This wide-ranging probe has thrown the brakes on, revealing that the idol of unchecked economic development has led Milan into a trap.
Many say that the investigation will not lead to many arrests and is only uncovering a culturally sick system without any real criminal offences. In which many have circumvented laws but not broken them. The maxi-investigation, apart from the judicial consequences it will have, has unveiled a culture that is different from the one with which Milan represented and narrated itself.
Ethics
It is clear that a country’s development, even when propelled by strong economic momentum, entrepreneurial ambition, and future vision, can derail if it lacks ethical grounding. What is unfolding in Milan is a warning for all of Italy: sustainable progress demands a solid foundation in shared values and public integrity.
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