City · Housing
Milan’s former Olympic Village opens as a student residence with nearly 1,700 beds
The mass timber village built for the 2026 Winter Games took its first students in late August, with 80% of its 1,698 beds allocated.
Milan’s former Olympic Village has reopened as a student residence. The first residents moved in at the end of August, and about 80% of its 1,698 beds, roughly 1,300, had been allocated by early September, the developer COIMA said on Sept. 4. COIMA calls the residence, named Villaggio, the largest student residence in Italy under an agreement scheme with the city.
The six-building complex at the former Porta Romana rail yard housed athletes during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games. The architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill designed it in mass timber with both uses in mind. “Purpose-built for one usage, and that then will transform for another permanent purpose,” Colin Koop, a partner at the firm, said, according to Wood Central.
Residents come from 80 countries, and 39% are Italian, COIMA said. Bocconi University holds 730 beds, the University of Milan 135 beds for its right-to-study program, and NABA, the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, 40. CXLiving runs the residence under its CX Campus & Hotel brand.
Average rates across all 1,698 beds, calculated over 12 years and including services, come to €785 a month plus VAT. COIMA said that is 5% below the rates set in its agreement with the City of Milan and 25% below the city’s market average of €1,150. Some 450 beds average €592 a month including VAT and services, and 135 of those are reserved for the right-to-study program at about €250 a month.
The buildings use mass timber and factory-made modular parts, including prefabricated facade panels, to cut embodied carbon. The complex meets Nearly Zero Energy Building standards and holds LEED Gold and WiredScore Platinum ratings, Wood Central reported. The project also restored two historic rail buildings, the Basilico warehouse and the Squadra Rialzo locomotive workshop, and added heat pumps, stormwater recycling, electric vehicle charging and a one-megawatt solar array.
The project was financed in part by a green loan of about €110 million from Intesa Sanpaolo, Crédit Agricole and Istituto per il Credito Sportivo, according to COIMA. Wood Central put the cost of the build at €140 million.
COIMA said the residence covers about 6% of the 30,000 student beds Milan is estimated to need. The wider 19-hectare Scalo Romana redevelopment is planned to include 320 affordable homes.
