The northern city of Trento is the greenest city in Italy according to a report by environmental association Legambiente published on Monday.
Mantua and Pordenone follow the capital of the autonomous province, also in the north, respectively in second and third place according to the annual Ecosistema Urbano 2023 report. The report was produced in conjunction with Ambiente Italia and Il Sole 24 Ore on the environmental performance of 105 Italian municipalities.
Milan stands at 42nd place, Florence at 53rd, Genoa at 58th, and Rome at 89th. The Sicilian cities of Catania and Palermo come joint last at 105th place.
The classification is based on 19 indicators covering five macro areas: air quality, water, refuse, mobility and the environment.
Top cities for key indicators
According to Legambiente, “cities will be increasingly at the centre of global challenges. They are the places where in a few decades the majority of the population will live and it is in these territories that environmental, social and economic crises are amplified”.
Waste sorting
Top spot went to Ferrara, whilst propping up the bottom was Palermo.
Public transport, pedestrian areas and motorisation
Naturally, due its geographical make-up and lack of cars on the islands, Venice topped the table for motorisation (Cars per 100 inhabitants) and Local public transport passengers (passengers/population). Rome, meanwhile, came bottom for both indicators.
Venice came second after Lucca for pedestrian areas: Square meters per 100 inhabitants.
Overall rankings
The top five positions overall went to Trento, followed by Mantua, Pordenone, Treviso and Reggio Emilia.
The rankings were based on the following methodology. The final score is assigned by defining a weight for each indicator which varies between 3 and 15 points, for a total of 100. Mobility represents 25% of the index, followed by air (23%) and waste (20%), urban environment (15%), water (12%) and energy (5%).
Priority is given to response indicators that measure the policies undertaken by local authorities (which account for 59%). Some bonuses have been assigned to cities that stand out for innovative policies, equal to a third of the weight of the indices relating to the chosen area.
