BOLZANO. Both Trento and Bolzano finish on the podium in the Sole 24 Ore Quality of Life ranking, in second and third positions respectively. On the top step is Bergamo, never rewarded before in the general ranking, but already crowned queen of the Sportsmanship Index. It improves four positions compared to 2023.
The performance of the South Tyrolean capital was even better with a comeback of ten positions. Trento instead moved from third to second position. At the rear of the thirty-fifth edition of the Quality of Life of the Sole 24 Ore are Crotone, ahead of Naples and Reggio Calabria. The survey photographs well-being in the Italian provinces with 90 indicators divided into six categories: wealth and consumption; business and work; environment and services; demography, society and health; justice and security; culture and free time. The top 10 of the ranking is the reflection of a country in which large cities are starting to show various fragilities: the only one present is Bologna, in ninth place, down six positions compared to the 2023 edition.
For the rest, the medium-sized provinces triumph: Monza and Brianza (4th place), followed by Cremona and Udine, winner last year, Verona and Vicenza. Closing out, after Bologna, is Ascoli Piceno. The north-eastern side wins, with three Lombard provinces, the two autonomous provinces of Trentino Alto Adige, two Venetian, one Emilian and one Marche. Metropolitan cities record a widespread collapse: Bologna drops by 7 positions, Milan by 4, moving to 12th place, Florence (36th place) scores -30 after being in the top 10 for three consecutive years and Rome drops by -24 positions dropping to 59th place. Turin loses 22 positions, arriving in 58th place, immediately ahead of the capital.
The South Tyrolean governor Arno Kompatscher says he is satisfied with the good position of the Province of Bolzano. Precisely due to the fact that last year it ‘plummeted’, dropping out of the top 10, and has now risen back to third position, the president of the autonomous province reiterates that these types of rankings, regardless, “must always be taken with a pinch of salt” . “I believe – he adds – that the Province of Bolzano is often not adequately classified, given its many peculiarities that do not fit into national schemes (and statistics),” he concludes.