Milan once again takes first place, with outstanding results in service provision, income, infrastructure management, vitality of the productive fabric, followed by Bolzano and Bologna, in the 2025 annual survey of the quality of life in the Italian provinces, carried out by ItaliaOggi and Ital Communications, in collaboration with the Sapienza University of Rome, a report that is now in its 27th edition.
Compared to last year’s ranking, for Milan and Bolzano this is confirmation, Bologna has improved and moved up one position. However, it’s two steps back for Monza and Brianza while there has been significant progress in the rankings for Rimini and Ascoli Piceno, in 12th and 15th respectively, with more than twenty positions up compared to 2024. Still at the bottom of the rankings is Caltanissetta (107th), preceded by Crotone (106th), which has dropped five places in a year and Reggio Calabria (105th), which has risen one place. Of negative note are Foggia, who rose from 93rd to 104th, Pordenone from 9th to 23rd and Gorizia from 26th to 52nd.
The study is divided into nine dimensions of analysis: business and employment, living environment, education and training, population, crime and security, income and wealth, social security, health system, tourism, entertainment and culture, which makes it possible to investigate the quality of life at the local level. The 107 provinces are classified into 5 groups (Mediterranean, Francigena, Adriatic, Padania, Metropolis. The quality of life in 2025 is good or acceptable in 60 of the 107 provinces. These values are lower than those recorded in recent years and therefore indicate a decline, according to the study.
The survey also confirms in 2025 the existence of a rift between North-Central Italy and southern Italy and the islands. In addition, in Southern Italy there are still many areas experiencing social and personal difficulties. The quality of life in the North-West provinces decreased slightly (19 out of 25 provinces fell into the top two groups – good and acceptable quality – 2 less than in the previous edition). The opposite situation occurred in the North East, while in central Italy there was a slight improvement. For the southern Italian provinces and islands, only L’Aquila was classified in group 2 (acceptable quality of life), compared with two groups (Pescara and Teramo) surveyed last year. For Alessandro Polli, professor of Economic Statistics and Time Series Analysis at La Sapienza University of Rome. “The survey on quality of life is one of the most comprehensive studies available in Italy. The survey is divided into nine dimensions and 97 indicators allowing in-depth analysis of the local context.
This year’s edition confirms three trends: a growing divide between north-central countries, which are more resilient, and countries of the South, which are increasingly vulnerable; the existence of widespread social difficulties in the southern region, which are difficult to overcome within the current public financial framework; and the consolidation of the primacy of the provinces and metropolitan cities of the north-central region, which even in the current economic and geopolitical phase show the greatest capacity for resistance.”
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