Public works that remain unfinished in Italy have dropped to an all-time low. So-called “cathedrals in the desert” continue to shrink in number – Italy now has 246 incomplete public projects, down 20 from 266 last year – a 7.5% decline.

Over the last decade, since the creation of the Registry of Unfinished Works, these abandoned or stalled infrastructures have more than halved in number – which suggests progress in oversight and a rising culture of accountability. An “unfinished” work refers to projects whose contract completion deadline has passed and which have stalled for reasons that are not quickly resolved – lack of funding, technical challenges, changes in regulation, contractor failure, or contract cancellation.