Activists Scale Abandoned Factory to Paint Giant “No Data Center”

Climate activists climbed and rappelled down the walls of an abandoned factory outside Turin under cover of darkness, painting a giant “No Data Center” message on the building where Italy’s biggest data center could be built.

Extinction Rebellion released footage on October 22 showing its members scaling the former ILTE printing plant in Moncalieri at night, hanging from ropes as they paint huge red letters onto the facade. By daylight, the words “No Data Center” stretch across the top of the building, visible from the nearby highway, while “Stop Tech Fascism” is painted on a side wall and a banner reading “Fermare l’ecocidio” (“Stop the ecocide”) hangs from a third.

“We are leaving this message here so it can be seen everywhere and serve as a warning to all administrations,” the group said. Extinction Rebellion said the planned 527-megawatt, 4.5 billion euro facility would use as much energy as every household in the Piedmont region, along with huge amounts of water to cool its servers in a region hit by chronic drought.

The project has already hit trouble, with the mayor of Moncalieri calling it “not acceptable” this month, though the town has until the end of October to make a final decision. The activists are demanding that the plan be scrapped and the site cleaned up and given back to the community.