Rome, Feb. 4 (LaPresse) – "Pollution emergency in Italy." This is the key finding from the new Mal'Aria di città 2025 report by Legambiente, which assesses air pollution levels in provincial capitals over the past year and looks ahead to 2030, warning that "Italian cities are dramatically unprepared" for upcoming regulations.
The data was presented in Milan at the launch of the Città2030 campaign, which will travel across Italy until March 18 to evaluate the readiness of urban areas for sustainable transportation systems.
"In 2024, 50 monitoring stations in 25 out of 98 cities exceeded the daily limits for PM10 (fine particulate matter)," the association reported. The legal threshold for PM10 is set at 35 days per year with an average daily concentration exceeding 50 micrograms per cubic meter.
Leading the ranking for exceedances are Frosinone (Scalo) and Milan (Marche), both with 68 days of violations, followed by Verona (Borgo Milano) with 66, and Vicenza (San Felice) with 64.
Legambiente highlights that "exceedances recorded at multiple stations within the same city indicate a widespread and structural problem in many urban areas."
Looking ahead to the stricter EU targets set for 2030, the situation appears even more concerning: 71% of cities would exceed the new PM10 limits, while 45% would violate the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) thresholds.
"The air remains unbreathable, and current pollution levels are still far from the standards that will come into effect in five years," the report warns.
Other cities suffering from high smog levels include Cremona, Naples, Rovigo, Brescia, Turin, Monza, Modena, Mantua, Lodi, Pavia, Catania, Bergamo, Piacenza, Rimini, Terni, Ferrara, Asti, and Ravenna.
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