Each year Legambiente, an italian association devoted to the protection of natural resources, along with Ambiente Italia – Environment Research Institute in Italy and the editorial assistance of Il Sole 24 Ore (economic newspaper), report statistics on environmental quality of the 103 provincial capitals in Italy, highlighting the best urban ecosystems.
Italy’s “cleanest” city in the ranking for 2009 is Belluno, that has got really good air, an optimized mobility system and an excellent waste management. One other measuring parameter is the good supply of bike paths, that makes Belluno one of the most sustainable cities in Italy.
Belluno is a town in North-East part of Italy, 36,546 inhabitants, the largest town in the Valbelluna.
The greenest cities in Italy are Verbania, Belluno, Parma, Bolzano and Siena (all in the North), which occupy the first five places in the rankings. The worst, at the bottom of the list, are Catania, Crotone, Agrigento, Caltanissetta and Frosinone (all in the south).
That means that only the cities in the North are developing a sustainable approasch toward environment, while the South is still backward.
But something is starting to move even in the South. Among the top 42 municipalities which have high standard for life-quality and green attention there are Salerno (34), Campobasso (39), Potenza (40) and Matera (42).
Among the provincial capitals, Legambiente separate towns in rabbits, ants and gazelles. Among the rabbits appear Novara and Verbania, with collection rates above 70%, have achieved well in advance the goal of 65% set for 2012 by the Decree on the Waste Recovery. Salerno will be added to this pair, for its sustainable management of garbage.
The ants are Siena, Mantua, Pisa, Verbania and Florence, that in these years have established extensive ZTL, while regions as Lombardy, Emilia Romagna and Piedmont, have developed a better cycling mobility.
Image Flickr Creative Commons License Courtesy by Guido Andolfato
