Vacant since 2015, the Ministry of Defense officially transferred the Piave Caserma deed to the University in 2017.

Located in the heart of the city between Riviera Paleocapa and via Cristoforo Moro, the existing 51,000 square-metered building of the former military barracks will house a new university campus and Social Science Centre with an additional 34,000 square meters of green space.

Encompassing the Economic, Political Sciences, and Sociology Schools of Social Sciences, the renovation project will include classrooms, workrooms, offices, libraries (3300 m 2 ), research laboratories (4000m 2 ), and campus services. An impressive 1600 m 2 classroom for teaching will offer space for 2800 seats and an additional study and computer area that can hold 800 students. Once completed, the initial phase of the renovation project guarantees access to students first.

Until the early nineteenth century, the area of the Piave barracks had been home to the ancient Church of Sant’Agostino built between 1227 and 1303. The Dominican Friars transformed the monastery into a military site during the French occupation of Veneto. Engineers of the Austrian military, while restructuring the Military Hospital between 1819 and 1822, demolished the church and redefined the military areas with an enclosed wall. Until 1866, the former monastery houses the military hospital and later the cavalry barracks. After the war, the barracks took on the name Piave and was the seat of the 5th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment until 1949. More recently, the area was used as a Military District, a Documentation Center, and the headquarters of what has since become the Military Command of the Venetian Army, the space was permanently closed in 2015.