The province of Parma in northern
Italy topped an annual quality of life standings from the
newspaper Italia Oggi and Roem's La Sapienza University, while
the Calabrian city of Crotone came last.
Trento and Bolzano, both in the partly German-speaking Alto
Adige or South Tyrol region, came second and third in the poll,
which they have consistently led in recent years.
The 23rd edition of the survey, conducted in collaboration with
the insurer Cattolica, featured all the lowest-ranking cities
from southern Italy, as in all the previous editions.
Naples was second last, and Foggia in Puglia, which came last
last year, was third from bottom this time around.
Rome slipped from 50th to 54th, midway on the ranking of the 107
cities, followed by the first southern Italian city and
province, recent cultural capital Matera.
The survey saw a rise by major urban centres in the centre-north
with Biologna surging from 27th last year to fourth this year
and Milan rocketing from 45th to fifth, while Florence rose from
31st to sixth.
"During the emergence of the country from the worst phase of the
pandemic it has been the large urban areas of the centre and
north which have shown the greatest resilience," said survey
coordinator Alessandro Polli, from the department of social and
economic sciences of La Sapienza.
Quality of life was described as "good" or "acceptable" in 63
out of 107 provinces, up from 60 last year.
Translated into population terms, 22.255 million Italian
residents, or 37.4% of the Italian population, live in areas
marked by an insufficient or scarce quality of life, against
25.649 residents or 42.5% of the population in the last edition.
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