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ENVIRONMENT

REVEALED: The most polluted towns in Italy in 2024

Frosinone in the central-southern region of Lazio has been named Italy's 'smog capital' in a new pollution report, with the northern city of Turin coming in second place.

Published: 19 February 2024 16:27 CET
Updated: 20 February 2024 16:21 CET
REVEALED: The most polluted towns in Italy in 2024
A new report from an environmental watchdog ranks Italy's most polluted cities. Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP.

The environmental watchdog Legambiente urged the government to take action in its Mal’aria di città (Air pollution in the city) report for 2024, which warns about the health risks posed by pollution in many parts of the country.

It found that 18 of 98 cities monitored had violated clean air ordinances by exceeding daily fine particle (PM10) emission limits, which are currently set at no more than 35 days a year with a daily average of over 50 micrograms per cubic metre.

Frosinone was ranked as the worst offender, exceeding this level on 70 days, closely followed by Turin (66), Treviso (63), and Mantua, Padua and Venice (62).

These were followed by Rovigo, Verona and Vicenza, all of which exceeded limits to a lesser degree.

Milan, which last year came in second at 84 days – and in recent days has been the subject of debate over just how bad its air quality really is – slid down to tenth place with 45 days.

Apart from Frosinone, all of the most polluted cities were in the northern Italian regions of Piedmont, Veneto, and Lombardy, with many in and around the north-western ‘industrial triangle’.

READ ALSO: Why is air pollution in northern Italy so bad?

Just one other southern city (Naples, the capital of the Campania region) appeared towards the bottom of the ranking, exceeding the limit by one day.

Legambiente noted that that figures recorded for 2023 showed a marked improvement on those gathered for 2022.

A man wears a protective mask as he rides his bicycle downtown Milan. Photo by DAMIEN MEYER / AFP.

However the watchdog said this was “unfortunately attributable almost exclusively to the favourable weather conditions that characterised the winter months of the first half of 2023 and the fall period of the year just ended”.

“Better for the lungs of citizens who every day are forced to breathe air with concentrations of pollutants harmful to health, less good for the real effectiveness of the actions introduced by the national government, regions and municipalities over the years to deal with this chronic emergency,” it said.

The report added that while the European Commission in 2022 published a proposal to bring its air quality directives closer in line with World Health Organisation recommendations, Italy’s government has repeatedly tried to delay and water down the targets.

An estimated 47,000 premature deaths were caused in Italy in 2021 due to high PM2.5 pollution levels, Legambiente said: “an intolerable number of deaths that is repeated year after year.”

The organisation is currently rolling out its Città2030 campaign, travelling to 18 of the country’s 20 regional capitals between February 8th and March 6th to raise awareness of the incoming European Directive on air quality, expected to come into force by 2030.

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ENVIRONMENT

OPINION: Why Italy lags behind Europe on green policies – and things aren’t changing

With climate protests by young Italians and talk of clean energy policy, will Italy finally change its ways and catch up with other European countries? Silvia Marchetti argues a much bigger cultural shift is needed before Italy could truly go green.

Published: 16 May 2024 10:50 CEST
OPINION: Why Italy lags behind Europe on green policies - and things aren't changing

There’s a lot of talk about environmental-friendly practices and spreading awareness on climate change, but I must admit Italians are perhaps the least eco-conscious of all Europeans. 

We struggle to keep up with the rest of Europe. From buying more bottled water than almost any other country to repeatedly delaying a ‘plastic tax’ and dumping on beaches and in parks, it’s part of a general cultural attitude which has very little ‘green’ in it, even though the pandemic and soaring energy costs have pushed a minority of Italians to become perhaps a bit more careful. 

Too many Italians just have that ‘che me ne frega’ approach (meaning ‘I really don’t care’), which gets on my nerves and is quite ingrained in the general mentality. 

When I used to live in Holland back in 2002, there were drinking water fountains everywhere, people filled their own portable insulated bottles which were not made of plastic, and which seemed to me so cool and fashionable.

While in Rome we have the famous fontanoni (historical water spouts), locals either use their hands to drink, or still buy glass and plastic cups and bottles to fill and then throw away. 

When it comes to recycling waste, only half of Italy does it properly, while the Baltic countries are the most efficient waste-wise among the 27 members of the European Union. 

I live north of Rome, in the countryside, and differentiated waste disposal services arrived in my comune just six years ago, while at my seaside house south of the capital, this happened only last year. In Rotterdam, where I lived during university, citizens had been recycling waste since at least a decade earlier. 

READ ALSO: Why Trento is ranked as Italy’s ‘greenest’ place to live

Some 25 years ago, when I was in Geneva, people walking their dogs would scoop up their pets’ poo with recyclable gloves and place it in neat plastic bags; that’s something you’d see hardly anyone do even nowadays in Italy.

I’m at times ashamed of saying so, but we have really bad habits – like keeping the tap water running even when you don’t need it, such as during one-hour showers or while brushing teeth, turning the lights on at night in the garden when everyone is at home and no guests are expected, and buying endless motorini (scooters) for the kids and then one car per adult family member.

The Italian love of cars results in heavy traffic and dangerous levels of pollution – but will this ever change? (Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP)

I think this is all due to the fact that most Italians are very showy, even in energy consumption. Keeping house lights or car usage down to a minimum would imply to neighbors a state of precarious wealth, if not almost poverty. 

There’s another factor that plays a major role. Italy, as opposed to other European countries, has always heavily relied on gas and oil consumption, not on alternative green energy that still sounds quite futuristic. This dependency on fossil fuels will likely lead to our demise if we don’t act.

READ ALSO: Italians and their cars are inseparable – will this ever change?

The post-pandemic funds given by the European Union should boost investments in alternative and green energy, but the effects will only be seen in the long run.

In order to have a positive impact, the money must be efficiently spent. Almost 37 percent of a total €191 billion of European aid is expected to go into funding green investments in Italy over the next few years. 

But it all reads very vague at the moment, and I’m afraid the Italian approach might change only slightly, no matter the ambitious government plans. It’s more wishful thinking. 

In the rest of Europe children are taught about climate change and how to adopt good practices in everyday life. I have friends in Belgium whose kids read about recycling plastic and reducing weekly the number of plastic water bottles they buy.

READ ALSO: What is it with Italians and bottled water?

In order to have a radical change in Italians’ attitudes, environmental awareness must be spread inside schools and among children. It really depends on the future generations.

The younger generations, born in an era already marred by environmental damage, are the only ones in Italy who can really ‘go green’ in everything they do and consume.

Recent protests by student climate change activists in Italy, even if small compared to those staged across Europe, are a sign of a changing mentality among youth.

But in order to further spread awareness, a more pro-environmental education is paramount.

Unfortunately though, there is no political debate around improving education on environmental issues in Italy, mainly due to a lack of political wisdom or forward-looking strategy.

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