High noise levels can affect your well-being. The effects of noise on health include stress, reduction of psychological well-being and sleep disturbances, but also cardiovascular problems.

In the field of noise pollution management, with the issuing of Directive 2002/49/EC, the European Union has defined a common approach to avoid, prevent or reduce the harmful effects of the population's exposure to environmental noise. The approach is based on the determination of exposure to environmental noise, on public information and on the implementation of Action Plans at local level. The population exposed to noise is determined through acoustic mapping, developed on the basis of common and shared methods. 

From the acoustic mapping, the population exposed to noise levels higher than the levels recommended by the WHO is high. Road traffic represents the main source of noise.

The municipal noise abatement plan is envisaged by the legislation as a fundamental tool for managing and resolving noise pollution problems in the area; this Plan represents the act consequent to the main fulfillment by the municipalities: the acoustic classification plan. The redevelopment plan must be coordinated with all the other tools provided for the management of the municipal territory and must incorporate the contents of the transport infrastructure noise containment and abatement plans. As of 2024, this planning tool is poorly used across the entire national territory: only 66 municipalities of the 5,106 with acoustic classification have approved the Noise Remediation Plan, confirming a percentage of just over 1% over the years.

The management of noise pollution produced by airport infrastructures is carried out through the implementation of the obligations required by current legislation, in particular the approval of the acoustic characterization of the airport surroundings, an act of planning of the territory surrounding the airport which allows its use to be regulated in a manner compatible with the sound levels produced by the infrastructure, the application of specific anti-noise procedures, in order to minimize the acoustic impact produced by aircraft, and the implementation and management of an airport noise monitoring system. To date, these requirements are still disregarded in many airports across the country. By 2025, in 25 of the 42 airports where national and international air traffic is present, 39 of which have been identified by ENAC as "airports of national interest", the acoustic characterization of the airport surroundings has been approved, a fundamental and priority act for managing noise pollution.

The Framework Law on noise pollution (LQ 447/1995) requires the autonomous regions/provinces to issue their own legislation which defines a series of criteria, methods and procedures necessary for the complete implementation of the national law. Since the enactment of LQ 447/95, the regional legislative framework is not yet complete: there are still 5 regions that have not adopted a regional law on noise pollution; some regions, in the absence of a regional law on noise, have approved specific acts.

The noise produced by transport, industries and other human activities constitutes one of the main environmental problems and can cause various disturbances to the population. For the containment of noise pollution and therefore the regulation of noise sources, the national legislation on noise (LQ 447/95 and implementing decrees) has defined limit values ​​for the different types of sources, divided into limits for the external environment (absolute immission and emission limits), in relation to the provisions of the acoustic classification of the municipal territory, and into limits within living environments (differential immission limits). The indicator describes the control activity with measurements of compliance with the limit values ​​in force, in the external environment and/or inside living environments, carried out by ARPA/APPA, with a distinction between the different types of sources (production activities, service and/or commercial activities, construction sites and temporary events, road, railway, airport and port infrastructures). The most controlled sources, also for 2024, are service and/or commercial activities (60.6% of the total controlled sources), followed by production activities (25.5%). Among transport infrastructures, which represent 8.4% of controlled sources, roads are the most controlled (5.8%).

The Noise Classification Plan represents the main municipal planning act for the management of noise pollution. The Plan consists in the division of the municipal territory into acoustically homogeneous areas, to which acoustic limits are associated, with the aim of providing an indispensable tool for planning urban development and protecting the territory from noise pollution. 

By 2024, on the national territory, the Acoustic Classification Plan has been approved in 65% of municipalities; the differences in the application of this planning tool are still evident at a regional scale.