Milan in the lead for quality of life. Parma in the top 30 group and in fifth place for income and wealth

Milan once again conquers the podium, ranking in first place, followed by Bolzano and Monza and Brianza, in the new edition of the 2024 annual survey on the quality of life carried out by ItaliaOggi and Ital Communications, in collaboration with the Sapienza University of Rome, which has reached 26th edition.

Services, income threshold, infrastructure, vitality of the productive fabric, these are the main quality elements that must distinguish a large urban centre. At the bottom of the ranking is Caltanissetta (107th), together with Reggio Calabria (106th, has lost 11 positions since 2023) and Agrigento (105th, fallen one place compared to the previous year). Bologna and Trento complete the group of the best cities of 2024, placing themselves in fourth and fifth place respectively, and stand out for their ability to combine economic development, environmental sustainability and high levels of safety and well-being.

Looking at the big changes in the ranking, Savona should be noted as negative (-20, from 43rd to 63rd place) and Ferrara as positive (+21, from 48th to 27th place). This year the growth of metropolises is confirmed: provinces and metropolitan cities, especially in the Centre-North, continue to show a greater capacity to recover from shocks compared to other areas of the country. As a result, the separation between the regions of the North and the South and Islands is becoming clearer, where areas of social and personal hardship are growing. The study highlights the Italian cities that offer the best conditions of well-being to their inhabitants and is divided into nine dimensions of analysis: business and work, environment, crime and safety, social security, education and training, population, health system, tourism, income and wealth. As regards Caltanissetta, there are vulnerabilities in many aspects of the quality of life, common to the provinces of Southern Italy, but, at the same time, there are also good results: the province ranks among the top positions in the “Health System” dimension, in the middle of the table in the dimension relating to «Crime and safety» and in the last positions in the remaining 7 dimensions. (HANDLE).

The ranking also concerns different aspects of life. The “Business and Work” dimension includes 8 indicators and is led by Bolzano and Bologna, which are placed, as in the two past editions, in first and second place respectively, followed by Verona, Trieste and Padua. Naples closes the ranking. to the environment Monza and Brianza Brianza opens the environmental quality ranking, followed by Padua, Reggio Emilia and Mantua. In terms of safety, the analysis indicates a substantial stability in the ranking to crime and safety, climbing 9 positions compared to the previous year. Followed, in order, by Frosinone, Benevento and Campobasso.

The ranking for Social Security opens – which also looks at the inactivity rate for young people – Rovigo, followed by Cremona, Bolzano, Cuneo and Milan. The province in the queue is Taranto. In Education and training, Bologna confirms its lead. Followed by two other provinces of the North-East, Trento and Trieste, and Milan representing the North-West. The province in last position is Crotone. Health system is opened by Isernia, which confirms its lead, followed by Terni. Then there are Ancona, Pavia and Genoa which in turn confirm the excellent placings achieved in past editions of the survey. Health services are mainly concentrated in metropolitan cities and centers of excellence in medical research (Pisa and Siena), but other factors also exist. Vibo Valentia closes the ranking. The Tourism ranking, which from this year also includes entertainment and culture, opens with Bolzano in first place, followed by Rimini, Trieste, Rome and Verona. In last position Enna.
Milan confirms its first place already obtained in the last four editions for income and wealth. Followed by Bologna, Modena, Biella and Parma. Closing the ranking, as in the previous five editions, is the province of Crotone. From this year, the evaluation on the population front does not consider the population density but the number of members per family. New indicators also come in, which look at the elderly. Bolzano confirms its first place, a result that has been repeated for ten years now. Next, Trento, Monza and Brianza, Milan and Brescia are classified in the leading group. South Sardinia closes the ranking.

«The result achieved by the Capital appears to be of particular importance, placing itself in the group of excellence for the first time since this investigation began». This is what emerges in the 2024 quality of life survey carried out by ItaliaOggi and Ital Communications, in collaboration with the Sapienza University of Rome, published on the ItaliaOggi website. The capital and its province appear in the 30 leading positions. In the grouping of the top 30 there are in fact «4 provinces representing central Italy (Florence and Siena in Tuscany; Ancona in the Marche; Rome in Lazio), compared to the two surveyed in the last edition. And then again «8 provinces of the north-west, as in the previous edition (in order Turin and Cuneo in Piedmont; Aosta; Milan, Monza and Brianza, respectively first and third ranked in the 2024 edition of the survey, Brescia, Bergamo and Cremona in Lombardy), 18 provinces in the north-east, one more than last year (the two provinces of Trentino-Alto Adige; Padua, Verona, Vicenza, Venice and Treviso in Veneto; all the provinces of Friuli-Venezia Giulia ; Bologna, ParmaRavenna, Forlì-Cesena, Modena, Reggio Emilia and Ferrara in Emilia-Romagna). «These results – explains the research – confirm the overcoming of the gap that contrasted the majority of the central-northern provinces, of medium-small size and characterized by high and stable levels of quality of life over time, and the related metropolitan cities, which this year are all in the top positions.” (HANDLE).