Bergamo has the best quality of life in Italy

It seems that Bergamo is the city in Italy with the highest quality of life. This year, the report Qualità della vita del Sole 24 Ore was also published, which, since 1990, has analyzed annually which Italian provinces offer the best living conditions. In 2024, Bergamo, a province in Lombardy, stands on the podium, followed by Trento and Bolzano, both highly awarded over the years. The survey is based on ninety indicators divided into six categories: wealth and consumption, business and work, justice and security, demographics and society, environment and services, and culture and leisure. On social media, Bergamo's selection was well received, considering that just four years ago, the Lombardy province was one of the epicenters of the pandemic, severely affected throughout the duration of COVID-19. For many citizens, this achievement represents a form of revenge. Almost every year, provinces in Northern Italy tend to occupy the top spots in the ranking; in fact, only Ascoli Piceno manages to break into the top 10, securing tenth place. Scrolling through the ranking, provinces in Central Italy begin to appear, until reaching Southern Italy, which occupies all the lowest positions: according to Sole 24 Ore, Naples is the second-to-last province in terms of quality of life in Italy, followed only by Reggio Calabria.

The most interesting data in the report concerns the position of large Italian metropolitan cities, which, compared to previous years, are in free fall. Among the top ten, only Bologna appears in ninth place, although it has dropped six positions compared to 2023. Milan, which was declared by ItaliaOggi-Ital Communications just last month as the province with the best quality of life, finds itself in twelfth place. The worst downgrade of the year was recorded by Florence, which fell from sixth position in 2023 (with a long streak of top-10 rankings) to 36th place, losing a total of thirty positions. Rome also experienced a sharp drop, moving from 35th place last year to 59th this year. The ranking highlights perhaps one of the most significant issues of the past year: the strengthening of medium-sized provinces. As analyzed in the nss magazine paper Milano, di cosa hai paura?, one of the main problems of Milan—though also applicable to other large Italian cities—is the constant vertical development of cities. However, to improve citizens' quality of life, perhaps the focus should be on horizontal expansion.