The northeast city of Trento is the best place to live in Italy, according to an annual survey by the economic daily Il Sole 24 Ore released on Monday.
The north also took second and third place with Bolzano and Aosta respectively.
The survey compares Italy's 103 provincial capitals according to six basic measuring sticks: living standards, business and work conditions, law and order, health and environmental services, population and leisure time.
The survey also takes into account what residents think about where they live.
Trento this year climbed three positions to the top thanks to ranking high for business, living standards, leisure time and law and order.
This year's survey once again showed a major gap between north and south.
Agrigento in Sicily was found to be the worst city, a position held last year by Catania, also in Sicily.
Il Sole 24 Ore pointed out that residents Trento have a per capita income of 25,000 euros, double that of residents Agrigento, while the unemployment rate in Trento was 3.1% compared to 13.3% in the Sicilian city.
Among Italy's leading cities, Milan retained its position at sixth, while Rome leapt 15 places and this year was ranked eighth.
Bergamo made the best progress in this year's survey by gaining 24 places to come in 20th, while Isernia plummeted 29 positions to 79th.
Rounding out the top ten were last year's number one Siena in seventh place while Belluno, also a former number one, was third, Sondrio fifth, Trieste ninth and Udine tenth.
The bottom ten cities were all in the south and were: Caserta and Palermo (94th), Vibo Valentia (95th), Caltanissetta (96th), Reggio Calabria (97th), Taranto (98th), Catanzaro (99th), Catania (100th), Foggia (101st), Benevento (102nd) and Agrigento (103rd).
