MUNICIPIA S.p.A. runs outsourced services for Italian municipalities, including parking management, from its base in Trento. In 2025 it began a smart parking programme in Trento with Fleximodo sensors, expanded it later that year, and in early 2026 added guidance signs that carry the municipality's own branding.
What problem did MUNICIPIA need to solve?
Many Italian towns do not run parking themselves. They contract it out to a concession operator such as MUNICIPIA, which is responsible for collection, enforcement and upgrading the parking estate. MUNICIPIA needed live occupancy data it could rely on, installed with little disruption to the street. Then it needed to show that data to drivers in a way that looks like a city service, not a supplier's product.
What was installed?
Phase 1 and 2 (2025): sensors. IoT Parking Sensor Standard units on NB-IoT, fitted with a flush-mount adaptor. The adaptor seats the sensor at pavement level, slightly recessed, so it is barely visible and quick to fit. Each sensor combines a magnetometer with radar and compensates for temperature, which matters in Trento's hot summers and Alpine winters. The pilot configuration was kept unchanged when the programme expanded.
Phase 3 (2026): guidance signage. Three types of solar-powered flip-dot guidance display, all on NB-IoT:
| Display | Format | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| 6-digit | 2 rows × 3 digits, traffic-sign frame | Two zones or categories on one sign, for example general and accessible bays |
| 3-digit | 1 row × 3 digits, traffic-sign frame | Single-zone availability |
| 3-digit beacon | Outdoor casing, no sign frame | Mounted on walls, car park entrances or poles |
Every sign is white-labelled with the municipality's logo, name and colours. IoT-HUB handles data processing, monitoring and the API for both sensors and signs.
Why white-label the signs?
Because citizens deal with the city, not the concession operator. MUNICIPIA works on behalf of municipalities, so the signs need to read as municipal infrastructure. Branding each sign per municipality lets the same hardware and back end serve different towns while each keeps its own identity on the street.
What does the city get from it?
- Live availability on the street. Drivers see free spaces before they turn in, instead of circling.
- Two categories on one sign. The 6-digit display can show, for example, general and accessible bays side by side.
- No cabling to the signs. Solar power and NB-IoT mean signs can go where there is no mains supply or data line.
- One back end. Sensors and signs share IoT-HUB, so occupancy data and what drivers see come from the same source.
- A pattern to repeat. The same set of sensors, signs and white-label branding can be rolled out to other municipalities the operator serves.
See also municipal parking solutions and another Italian project, Bridge 129 in Reggio Emilia.