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The Italian newspaper "La Verità" sheds light on the connection between the corruption investigations in Milan and the projects of Rama's friend in Tirana...
One of the most well-known names in modern Italian urban planning, architect Stefano Boeri, is now at the center of a heated public and legal debate that is shaking up the municipal administration of Milan, but as the newspaper La Verità reveals, this "model" has been exported and deployed with equal speed in Tirana.
In an article published on July 22, 2025, La Verità writes that the same scheme that has raised the alarm in Italy has been implemented in Albania, a frightening increase in construction prices, luxury buildings under the guise of urban ecology, and a dubious system of relationships between business, politics, and institutions that remain silent.
At the center of this scheme, both in Milan and Tirana, is the Vertical Forest project, a 21-story building branded "Tirana Vertical Forest", included in the regulatory plan known as Tirana 2030. It has been presented as a symbol of green citizenship and the fight against pollution, but in reality the price per square meter has reached up to 5,500 euros, a figure identical to the most expensive areas of Milan, where the Prosecutor's Office has already opened a criminal investigation, the article states.
La Verità does not spare any references: “ Boeri has concreted the Milan of the DP, the Tirana of the Renaissance and China... only Cuba is missing ”, the article ironically remarks, hinting at a globalized network of leftist clientelism, which uses urban projects as an instrument to channel public money into a few hands. ( Boeri's project was also carried out in Shanghai and Huangshi, in collaboration with the Chinese authorities ).
Meanwhile in Italy, investigations into Boeri's project have focused on suspicious links between the architectural studio and Milan city officials. There are strong suspicions that some of the tenders, permits and urban procedures were used to mask narrow financial interests, while the Italian Prosecutor's Office has been investigating a wide-ranging corruption and money laundering scheme for more than 2 years.
In Tirana, unlike Italy, investigations do not exist. On the contrary, the construction of towers and projects at staggering costs continues without any stop, with the approval of the authorities and the silence of the justice institutions.
The newspaper quotes a television show in Albania, where journalist Alba Kepi spoke. " The essential difference between Milan and Tirana lies in the fact that in Italy the investigations start from the Prosecutor's Office, which has been following this case for over two or three years, since the first suspicions. In Tirana, further, there are only municipal councilors and the opposition who raise concerns and make denunciations, without any institutional response from the justice bodies ," she declared.
According to Kepi, behind the "glam" construction phenomenon in Tirana lies the same kind of modus operandi, that is, a system of favoritism: " it is not only an urban crime, but also a money laundering system that takes place openly, under the eyes of all citizens, politics and international diplomacy in Tirana, without any reaction from justice ," the Italian newspaper continues.
Ultimately, the question posed by La Verità remains a strong dilemma even for the Albanian public:
Is this an architectural and environmental project, or a camouflaged diversification of post-communist assets? /Punoi "Pamfleti"
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