In Italy, the situation with solar panels and olive trees differs markedly from Spain’s high- profile conflicts (like the mass uprooting in Andalusia). Italy has seen less widespread replacement or clear- cutting of productive olive groves for utility- scale solar farms, largely due to stricter regulations and a stronger push toward integration rather than outright replacement.

In Italy, solar panels are not replacing olive trees on anywhere near the scale seen in Spain.

Thanks to strict national rules introduced in 2024 (and still largely in force as of March 2026), outright clear-cutting of productive olive groves for traditional ground-mounted solar farms is effectively banned on agricultural land.

The Agriculture Decree prohibits large-scale PV on farmland unless panels are elevated (at least 2.1 metres high) to allow continued farming, grazing or olive production underneath — forcing developers into agrivoltaics (or “agri-PV”).

A 2025 court ruling partially repealed some related decrees, but the core protection remains and has pushed the industry toward dual-use systems.

Differences and Protections in Italy

• Ban on Utility-Scale Solar on Agricultural Land — In late 2024/early 2025, Italy’s government (under PM Giorgia Meloni) introduced an emergency decree banning ground-mounted solar panels on prime farmland to protect food security, sovereignty, and agricultural heritage. This was supported by powerful farmers’ unions like Coldiretti, who argued that large solar projects threatened crops (including olives, vines, and grains). The ban favors elevated or agri-solar setups (at least 2.1 meters high) that allow farming underneath, or rooftop/derelict land installations. Some regions (e.g., parts of Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna) have seen local protests and moratoriums against “solar sprawl” on fertile fields.
• Result: Developers have pivoted heavily to agrivoltaics (or “agri-PV”) to bypass restrictions. Italy is on track for record solar installations overall, but much of the growth is in dual-use systems rather than full land conversion.

Cases Involving Olive Groves

Italy’s olive heartlands (Puglia, Sicily, Calabria, Lazio) face some tensions, but conflicts are smaller-scale and often resolved via agrivoltaics or legal challenges:

• Puglia (Apulia) — Home to iconic ancient olive groves (many hit hard by Xylella fastidiosa bacterium, which has killed millions of trees since ~2013). Some projects involve uprooting trees for PV, e.g.:
  • In Bitonto (near Bari), protests erupted over plans to remove thousands of olive trees (e.g., ~30,000 for an 86 MW agrivoltaic plant by PV Verde Srl, plus transplants for others). Farmers’ group CIA Puglia highlighted “photovoltaic madness” risking 50,000+ trees in the area.
  • Other cases saw ~2,000 centuries-old trees uprooted for a park, with appeals claiming replanting promises weren’t met.
  • However, many Puglia projects now combine PV with olive revival or intercropping to regenerate abandoned/Xylella-affected land.
• Sicily — Projects like Engie’s Mazara del Vallo agri-solar park (inaugurated 2023, one of Italy’s largest) integrate panels with local crops (including olives in some designs). It’s fed into the grid via corporate deals (e.g., with Amazon) but faced criticism over “land colonization.”
• Lazio and Other Areas — Developers sometimes discover olive trees on purchased land and shift to olive oil production alongside PV (e.g., one company harvested organic oil from 1,130 trees on a former solar site). Research from Politecnico di Torino and others models successful PV-olive integration in southern Italy.

Agrivoltaics (“Olivoltaics”) in Italy

Italy leads in Mediterranean agrivoltaics research and deployment for olives:

• Studies (e.g., Italian-Spanish teams) show bifacial panels in olive groves boost overall land productivity (LER >1), with shade protecting trees from heat/drought while olives cool panels.
• Projects in Puglia (e.g., Borgo Monteruga) use CFD modeling to optimize microclimates for better olive yields.
• Potential: Deploying on just a fraction of olive land could add significant PV capacity, cut CO₂, and create jobs without major tree loss.

Unlike Spain’s aggressive approvals leading to tens/hundreds of thousands of trees at risk, Italy’s approach emphasizes protection of farmland and dual-use solutions.

Protests exist (especially in Puglia against specific uprootings), but they’re more localized, often tied to Xylella recovery or landscape concerns. The ban and incentives for agrivoltaics mean solar expansion rarely means full replacement of healthy olive groves — instead, it’s increasingly “panels among the trees” to harmonize energy and agriculture.

If agrivoltaics scales further (as research supports), Italy could avoid Spain- style clashes while meeting renewable targets.

The debate continues, with farmers pushing back against “savage colonization” in some spots, but regulations tilt toward coexistence over conflict.