The purpose of this study is investigating the grid parity (GP) time and the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems installed in densely urbanized contexts. The analysis, which was elaborated for three Italian cities, considered the effects of the promoting policies enacted by the Italian government from June 2010 to May 2016. An appropriate methodology was applied with the aim of realistically defining the energy produced by PV systems installed on buildings with different roof types and number of floors. The calculus of the disbursements considered the operating, maintenance and insurance costs and the wear of PV panels and inverters. The results showed that, depending on the type of the initial investment (with or without a bank loan), the site latitude and the solar shading caused by possible obstacles, the calculated values of LCOE vary from 0.219 sic/kWh to 0.485 sic/kWh. The time to reach the grid parity resulted shorter than 20 years for the cities in Southern and Central Italy, even considering a reduction of 10% of the solar radiation caused by the surrounding obstacles; less favourable values were obtained in the north of Italy. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.