Quality of life, Varese Province in 31st place

Mantua is the Italian province with the best quality of life. Varese Province has dropped only one place, to 31^st, in the ranking which “La Sapienza” University in Rome has compiled for the newspaper ItaliaOggi. The aim was to measure the quality of life of the Italian provinces using a number of indicators. The city of Mantua is the real change this year, after achieving first place following four years of domination by Trento; the surprise is the last in the ranking, Crotone, which was “only” in 86th place last year.

Lombardy
Roberto Maroni, the President of the Region, expressed his great satisfaction with the result for the Lombard province, by issuing the following a tweet: “Mantua at the top of the table in Italy in terms of quality of life, #Lombardiaintesta, #primailNord.”

However, for every Lombard province that has climbed, there is one that has fallen: the region’s capital, Milan, has fallen from 49th to 56th place. There is a good result for Lecco, which has entered the Top 10, and Lodi, which has risen to 23rd place (last year, it was in 31st). Bergamo and Brescia have both dropped about ten places, to 25th and 29th place, respectively. The Monza and Brianza Province has also dropped, to 38th place (it was in 24th), while Como has ended up in 44th place (it was in 25th).

The rest of Italy
Another newcomer to the top three is Belluno, up from eighth to third place. So, Pordenone and Bolzano have slipped (from third to fourth, and from second to eighth, respectively). In last place, there is Crotone.  The large urban areas are also disappointing, all dropping with respect to last year, with the exception of Turin (which has climbed 6 places). But while Milan and Naples have dropped 7 and 5 places, respectively, Rome has dropped 19 (31 since 2014), with insufficient levels for quality of life. Considering the macro-areas, the North-East and Centre have withstood the crisis better, whereas the North-West and, even more so, the South and the Islands have suffered; all trace has been lost of the cluster of provinces identified a few years ago, where the level was higher than in other provinces in the south.

Varese in the individual sections
The quality of life study carried by “La Sapienza” University considered a number of indicators, which were all ranked, and then divided into a number of subsections. Varese did moderately well in all of them. In the Business and Work section, it came 29th, a rise of one place with respect to 2015.

In the table dedicated to the environment, which has no comparison with 2015, because it did not exist, Varese Province achieved a decent 46th place. And in the crime section, Varese achieved 46th place, rising seven places (the most secure city is Pordenone, the least are Milan and Bologna).

Varese came 30th in the health system section, and 56th in financial services. The province is far behind in the tourism section, where it is stationary in 64th place. However, Varese achieved a good place, albeit a slight drop, for the standard of living, where it is 17th.