Italians are very satisfied with life in their cities. According to what emerges from the “Quality of life in European cities” survey, conducted by the European Commission with the contribution of Istat in a selection of European cities, in the Italian cities considered the share of the population satisfied with life in their city in 2023 is generally high (above 80%). The minimum value is recorded in Taranto (47.8%) and the maximum value in Trento (95.4%).
Trento in first place in the European ranking
And Trento in particular also ranks first in the European ranking (85 cities). Catania and Reggio Calabria, on the other hand, are among the Italian cities where more than half of the citizens believe that the quality of life has worsened in the last five years.
Worsened quality of life
However, rather low shares of the Italian population believe that the quality of life has improved in the last five years. Bari and Messina are exceptions. As regards health services, the highest percentage of satisfaction is in the north and the lowest in the south, while in general Italians are less satisfied with public transport than their European neighbors. Furthermore, those who live in Italian cities, as well as European citizens, are satisfied with schools, while a weak point in Italy is represented by the cleanliness of the streets.
Healthcare and transport split Italy in two
In Italy the highest percentages are recorded in the Centre-North (Bologna, Verona and Trieste stand out) while the lowest percentages are recorded in the southern cities”.
The highest percentages of citizens satisfied with public transport are those of Milan, Trieste and Bolzano/Bozen, while the lowest percentages are found in some cities of southern Italy, Rome and Perugia.
In the South everyone is dissatisfied with the cleanliness in the cities
In around three-quarters of Italian cities, less than half of the inhabitants are satisfied with the cleanliness of the city.
All southern cities and larger cities are part of this group. Among the top 20 EU cities in which the car is indicated as the most often used means of transport we find almost all Italian cities in the Center and the South but also some cities in the North.
High house prices everywhere
In most cities in the survey universe, relatively low percentages of people believe it is easy to find good accommodation at a reasonable price. The problem is strongly accentuated in Florence, Milan and Bolzano (where less than 5% of residents consider finding accommodation a simple operation).
In all the cities observed, over 50% of the inhabitants believe they can count on material help from friends, neighbors and other people in case of need.
Cities buffering immigrants
In all the cities examined, the majority of residents agree that their city is a good place to live for people in general, but less so for the immigrant population. The lowest percentages of those who consider the city a welcoming place for immigrants are observed in some cities in the South but also in Trieste and Genoa, while the highest percentage is found in Bologna
In Italian cities we observe the lowest percentages of people who feel safe walking alone at night in their city. The smallest shares (less than 30%) are found in Catania, Milan, Taranto, Genoa, Venice, Parma and Bari. Rome is the capital with the lowest percentage (36.8%) of those who feel safe walking from only at night.
A low perceived efficiency of the local public administration is expressed in almost all cities in southern Italy and in cities such as Rome, Florence, Perugia, Genoa, Milan, Turin, Venice. The highest values are instead found in the cities of Northern Italy, which have similar values to many German, French, Spanish and Eastern European cities.
The perception that corruption is present in one’s local administration is more accentuated in the Baltic, Greek and Portuguese cities as well as in those of Eastern Europe and in some cities of our country such as Rome, Palermo and Naples.
