A major study published on Monday sounded the alarm over the environmental health of Italy's towns and cities.
The annual report by Ecosistema Urbano, which looks at environmental quality and living conditions in the capitals of Italy's 109 provinces, sound some positive notes but said there was still a worrying amount of work to do.
"The current situation of Italian cities is unsustainable, chaotic and polluted," said Roberto Della Seta, the director of environmental organization Legambiente, which produced the survey along with the Italian Environmental Research Institute.
"Italy's urban environmental policies frequently fail to keep up with the rest of Europe".
The survey collated 125,000 statistics and used 125 parameters to reach its conclusions.
Belluno, in northeast Italy, won top marks for its performance, followed by two other northern towns: Bergamo in the west and Mantua in the centre.
Bottom of the class were Ragusa in Sicily, Benevento, near Naples, and Frosinone, halfway between Naples and Rome.
Although Rome came halfway down the list, in 55th place, this was better than last year, when it ranked 60th.
Milan also moved up the list, climbing four spots to 58.
But Italy's third-largest city, Naples, performed poorly, plummeting 24 places to a ranking of 91.
Although underlining that none of the provincial capitals had scored 100%, the report did single out some towns for praise in particular areas.
Inhabitants of Lucca enjoy the greatest amount of greenery per capita, while 67% of waste in Novara is separated for recycling.
Isernia has the lowest levels of dust pollution, Mantua has the most extensive network of bicycle paths, with 29 metres for every 100 inhabitants, and residents of Agrigento consume the lowest levels of drinkable water, at 100 litres per day.
But the report also highlighted particularly worrying shortfallings in certain cities.
Isernia's inhabitants separate just 1.8% of their trash for recycling, while in Aosta there are 193 cars for every 100 inhabitants, compared to just 43 per 100 in Venice.
Cosenza's network of water pipes lose 70% of their contents before ever reaching people's homes, while residents of Salerno get through 264 litres of drinking water each day.
Looking at the overall performance of Italy's urban centres, Della Seta said three key areas must be targeted in order to improve environmental health across the board.
"These are urban mobility, new energy policies, and homes, where there should be a fresh focus on the rental market," concluded the Legambiente director. "This is the only way we can make our towns clean, lively and safe places to live in".
