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QUALITY OF LIFE

The best (and worst) places to live in Italy in 2023

A new quality of life study has ranked Italian cities from best to worst, with the gap between north and south as wide as ever.

Published: 20 November 2023 15:39 CET
Updated: 21 November 2023 10:45 CET
The northern city of Bolzano offers Italy's best quality of life, according to a study.
The northern city of Bolzano offers Italy's residents the best quality of life, according to a new study. Photo by JOE KLAMAR / AFP.

This year, the inhabitants of the northeastern Italian city of Bolzano can say they live in the best province in Italy for quality of life – at least according to the latest survey compiled by ItaliaOggi and Rome’s La Sapienza University.

Now in its 25th year, this is among the most respected of several annual quality of life surveys conducted in Italy.

READ ALSO: Why are Trento and Bolzano rated the best places to live in Italy?

Bolzano took the top spot from last year’s winner Trento, which now ranks fourth.

The northern economic powerhouse of Milan was in second place, with top five completed by the cities of Bologna and Florence.

Rome was in 33rd place, this year beaten by Turin in 31st.

Venice ranked 25th, while southern capital Naples was ninth from bottom in 99th place.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Which is the best place to live in Italy?

The rankings are based on factors including employment opportunities, standards in health and education, crime levels, income, leisure facilities, social security and environment.

Venice is the Italian city with the 25th best quality of life, according to a new study. Photo by MARCO SABADIN / AFP.

Such studies usually show a clear north-south divide, and this one is no exception: the 63 provincial capitals where the quality of life was rated ‘good’ or ‘acceptable’ were predominantly in the central and eastern Alps, the Po Valley and the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, ItaliaOggi noted.

Towns and cities in the south of Italy and its two major islands, by contrast, overwhelmingly have a ‘poor’ or ‘insufficient’ quality of life.

“The 2023 survey confirms a trend: the fracture between the centre-north, more performing and resilient, and southern and island Italy, characterised by persistent vulnerability,” the publication concludes.

READ ALSO: ‘If you want quality of life, choose Italy’s sunny south over the efficient north’

The findings also show that major cities in the centre-north have seen a strong post-pandemic recovery in the past year; as demonstrated by Rome’s jump from 53rd to 33rd place, and Turin’s from 54th to 31st.

While the study does not rank smaller towns and rural areas, it is seen as representative partly as most public services, including local government offices and larger hospitals and healthcare facilities, are generally located in the provincial capital.

Here’s the survey’s complete ranking of all 107 provincial capitals in Italy, from best to worst according to its criteria:

1. Bolzano

2. Milan

3. Bologna

4. Trento

5. Florence

6. Padua

7. Parma

8. Monza and Brianza

9. Aosta

10. Pordenone

11. Siena

12. Brescia

13. Modena

14. Reggio Emilia

15. Forlì-Cesena

16. Verona

17. Vicenza

18. Treviso

19. Udine

20. Mantua

21. Rimini

22. Belluno

23. Bergamo

24. Ravenna

25. Venice

26. Cuneo

27. Lecco

28. Ancona

29. Prato

30. Trieste

31. Turin

32. Sondrio

33. Rome

34. Varese

35. Como

36. Cremona

37. Pesaro and Urbino

38. Verbano-Cusio-Ossola

39. Lodi

40. Ascoli Piceno

41. Macerata

42. Gorizia

43. Savona

44. Biella

45. Pisa

46. Piacenza

47. Novara

48. Ferrara

49. Arezzo

50. Fermo

51. Lucca

52. Perugia

53. Livorno

54. Pistoia

55. Pavia

56. Grosseto

57. Genoa

58. Terni

59. Vercelli

60. Asti

61. Teramo

62. Massa-Carrara

63. La Spezia

64. Rovigo

65. Isernia

66. Pescara

67. L’Aquila

68. Alessandria

69. Imperia

70. Viterbo

71. Potenza

72. Matera

73. Cagliari

74. Chieti

75. Frosinone

76. Benevento

77. Sassari

78. Nuoro

79. Campobasso

80. Rieti

81. Latina

82. Bari

83. Avellino

84. Lecce

85. Barletta-Andria-Trani

86. Salerno

87. Catanzaro

88. Ragusa

89. South Sardinia

90. Brindisi

91. Oristano

92. Vibo Valentia

93. Trapani

94. Caserta

95. Reggio Calabria

96. Foggia

97. Cosenza

98. Palermo

99. Naples

100. Enna

101. Taranto

102. Syracuse

103. Catania

104. Agrigento

105. Messina

106. Caltanissetta

107. Crotone

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LIVING IN ITALY

Quality of life: Is Trento really the best place to live in Italy?

Time and time again the northern Italian city of Trento tops the tables as one of the 'best' places to live in Italy. So why is this, and do local residents think the rankings are accurate?

Published: 24 July 2024 15:15 CEST
Quality of life: Is Trento really the best place to live in Italy?

Ranking somewhere to live as being the best (or worst) in the country is tricky. What may work for one person may not necessarily work for another, particularly in a country as regionally diverse  as Italy. 

Which is perhaps why it seems unusual that Trento, the capital of Italy’s autonomous Trentino–Alto Adige region, is repeatedly rated as the best in Italy for quality of life by various surveys.

The Alpine gem topped tables in 2019 and 2022 in a survey by ItaliaOggi and La Sapienza University, was voted as the greenest city last year by environmental watchdog Legambiente and has remained in the top 5 in Il Sole’s Lab 24 every year since 2012. 

READ MORE: Why are Trento and Bolzano rated the best places to live in Italy?

In Il Sole’s league table, Trento came in first place out of 107 Italian provinces for sports activities, air cleanliness and waste disposal, and quality of life for elderly people. Trento bypassed respective second-place category holders Trieste, Mantova, and Bolzano by at least four points in all three categories.

But does this really make it the ‘best’ place to live in the country?

For language teacher David Garyan, Trento was a case of love at first sight.

“I was immediately attracted to the landscape, the mountains,and  the rivers. It was the atmosphere and surroundings of Trento that really fascinated me,” he tells The Local.

After getting his master’s degree from the University of Bologna, David left his job in Ravenna and decided to move to Trento the same month.

“I’ve been here ever since and I don’t regret that decision.”

David arrived with his brother, who was studying at The University of Trento, from the USA in 2019. He split his time between Emilia-Romagna and Trentino while he was studying.

Some of his favourite spots in the area include Besenello Castle and Lake Molveno.

When asked if he agrees that Trento really offers the best quality of life, he replies: “The answer is a resounding yes.

“Though people’s priorities are different and young college students looking for nightlife might not find exactly what they were hoping for, Trento is, on the whole, the region with the best quality of life.”

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

For Sumarth Kathanraj, a software engineer from Bangalore in India, his time in Trento was a invaluable step in his career.

“I was afforded the opportunity to transfer to IT company in Trento from India and worked my way up,” Sumarth says. “It’s known as Italy’s Silicon Valley, after all.”

The city of Trento is regularly ranked among the best – and least polluted – places to live in Italy. Photo by Joshua Kettle on Unsplash

Sumarth came to Trento in 2015 and left in 2022 after landing another job in Portugal, starting a family during his seven-year stint in the city.

“Trento is a blessed place to live in Italy, offering a high quality of life, beautiful surroundings, and a rich cultural experience,” Sumarth says. “The best thing about living in Trento is the quality of life and the slower pace of living.” 

Sumarth lists proximity to nature, cultural activities and a pleasant atmosphere as some of the reasons why he stayed so long. 

“Walking down to the city centre has a great vibe. It is not overly crowded like big or middle-sized cities, providing a more relaxed and enjoyable experience,” he continues.

He noted that there were some challenges however, including “the limited options for IT professionals like myself, which ultimately led to my decision to move,”

“Additionally, the language barrier can make it difficult to make friends and be more socially active, but it’s a hurdle that can be overcome with effort.”

It’s not only internationals who share this view. Pierluigi Sartori, a digital risk manager and Trentino native, has travelled and lived extensively throughout Italy.  He credits his mother’s Pugliese upbringing with having a mindset that’s not very ‘Trentino’, though he’s remained in Trento as his children live there. 

READ ALSO: ‘If you want quality of life, choose Italy’s sunny south over the efficient north’

As much as he loves the region, he finds the job opportunities and social scene lacking; he commutes daily to Milan for work as the salary in his field is significantly higher there.

“In Italy, every city has its own characteristics, both social and cultural. Some are more lively, others less so. Trento falls into the latter category. It’s a very closed city both culturally and socially,” he says.

He says this is due to Trento being somewhat isolated geographically from other cities and says in Verona and Padua the social scenario is completely different. 

“I’ve lived in various Italian cities: Rome, Caserta, near Gallipoli, Milan, Treviso. In these cities, people are more sociable. For them, organising events that allow socialising is normal. Even just a simple dinner at their home.

“But Trento is different. People are more close-minded and snobbish.”

He argues nowhere should be labelled as the ‘best’ place to live, and that Trento certainly is not the best place for teenagers

However, he does recognise the beauty of Trento and its surroundings  and agrees that its cleanliness is a huge bonus.

“I don’t think that Trento is the best place to live in Italy but not the worst either. It’s the classic small provincial town that doesn’t offer many opportunities.”

It just goes to show that rankings of places to live are extremely subjective.

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