Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities

In 2022, Italy's primary environmental expenditure increased by 163% compared to 2021, reflecting a greater political interest in environmental issues. However, the share of key sectors (biodiversity and landscape protection, forest and wildlife management) in total environmental spending declined from 9.1% to 4.2%.

Despite the increase in available resources, spending capacity varies across sectors, with efficiency rates ranging from 88.5% for biodiversity to 69.1% for forest management. This trend highlights the need to optimize investments to ensure the protection of natural heritage, in alignment with the sustainable development goals of the 2030 Agenda.

The percentage of consumed soil within the first 300 metres from the coastline is more than three times the national average for the rest of the country. In two of the 15 coastal regions, it affects almost half of the total area, with a maximum in Liguria (48.15%) and Marche (45.64%).

Soil consumption remains above the national average in 9 out of 15 regions in the belt between 300 and 1,000 metres from the coastline, with a maximum in Emilia-Romagna (35.67%), and in 9 out of 15 regions also in the belt between 1,000 and 10,000 metres from the coastline.

The indicator provides information relating to cultural heritage at hydrogeological risk on the national territory. There are 45,339 cultural assets at risk of landslides, of which 13,966 are located in areas with high P3 and very high P4 danger. The cultural assets at risk of flooding are 35,997 in the medium hydraulic danger scenario (return times between 100 and 200 years) and reach 54,103 in the low hydraulic danger scenario, which is the maximum expected scenario.

In 2023, Italy experienced one of the hottest years in the last 150 years, second only to 2022. The average and maximum temperatures reached new records with October recording temperatures more than 3°C higher than the 1991-2021 average, marking the highest value since 1961. During the summer, intense heatwaves affected the country, with record temperatures of 48.2°C recorded on July 24 in Jerzu and Lotzorai in Sardinia, and 41.2°C in Rome in early August. Drought continued to be a significant problem, with Northern and Central Italy experiencing severe drought conditions in the first four months of the year, which later eased. However, in the last three months of the year, Sicily and parts of Ionian Calabria suffered from extreme drought with a significant precipitation deficit.
Extreme weather events affected several regions, causing severe damage. In May, Emilia-Romagna was devastated by two exceptional rainfall events, leading to flooding, landslides, and 17 fatalities. On November 2, heavy thunderstorms in Tuscany caused flooding and 8 deaths, with exceptional rainfall recorded in the provinces of Pisa, Livorno, Pistoia, and Prato.
In summary, 2023 was characterized by record temperatures, persistent drought, and extreme weather events that had a significant impact on various italian regions.

The indicator provides information on the main landslide events that caused fatalities, injuries, evacuations, and damage to buildings, cultural heritage assets, primary linear communication infrastructures, and service networks across the national territory over the past year. In 2024, there were 185 major landslide events, resulting in 5 deaths, 18 injuries, and predominantly causing damage to the road network and buildings.

The indicator provides information on the number and distribution of landslides in Italy. More than 636,000 landslides have been recorded (reference period 1116–2025), affecting an area of over 25,100 km², equivalent to 8.3% of the national territory.

The indicator is defined as the number of volcanic eruptions that produced significant impacts on human activities during the year.
In 2024, both Etna and Stromboli were active, with the most pronounced peaks occurring between July and August.

The indicator describes seismic events that occurred in Italy during the reference year, based on Magnitude values recorded by the National Seismic Network of INGV. In 2024, no destructive earthquakes occurred in Italy. Only one event reached Magnitude 5 in the province of Cosenza, which nonetheless caused no significant surface effects. Additionally, 13 events with Magnitudes between 4 and 4.6 were recorded within Italian territory and across borders up to 100 km away. The number of earthquakes with Magnitude ≥ 2 in 2024 (2,031) is comparable to the number recorded in the previous five years, with a slight decrease in 2021. As usual, most events were concentrated along the Apennine arc, the Eastern Alps, and Eastern Sicily.

In 2023, the total amount of municipal waste disposed of in landfills amounted to approximately 4.6 million tonnes, with 112 landfill facilities in operation nationwide. Compared to 2022, this represents a 10.8% reduction in the total quantity of municipal waste landfilled (equivalent to -559,000 tonnes) and a 4.3% decrease in the number of operational sites (-5 facilities).

The indicator is based on PM concentration data ₁₀ in the atmosphere measured during 2024 in monitoring stations distributed throughout the national territory, collected and archived in ISPRA in the InfoAria database, in accordance with the provisions of Directive 2008/50/EC (and the legislative decree implementing Legislative Decree 155/2010) and Decision 2011/850/EU. The monitoring stations that measured and reported PM data ₁₀ there are 576., of which those with sufficient time coverage for the verification of the reference values ​​are 545. The annual limit value was exceeded in one station (equal to 0.2% of cases), while exceeding the daily limit value was recorded in 94 stations (equal to 17.2% of cases). Finally, both the annual WHO reference value (90.5% of cases) and the daily one (96.1% of cases) are exceeded in the majority of monitoring stations.

The indicator is based on the concentration data of benzo(a)pyrene in the atmosphere, measured during 2024 in monitoring stations distributed throughout the national territory, collected and archived in ISPRA in the InfoAria database, in accordance with the provisions of Directive 2008/50/EC (and the legislative decree transposing Legislative Decree 155/2010) and Decision 2011/850/EU. The monitoring stations that measured and communicated B(a)P data are 167, of which 162 have data series with sufficient time coverage to verify the reference values. Exceedances of the target value were recorded in 12 stations, equal to 7.4% of cases.

The indicator is based on nitrogen dioxide (NO) concentration data ₂) in the atmosphere measured during 2024 in monitoring stations distributed across the national territory, collected and archived by ISPRA in databases InfoAria, in accordance with the provisions of Directive 2008/50/EC (and the legislative decree transposing Legislative Decree 155/2010) and Decision 2011/850/EU. The monitoring stations that measured and reported NO ₂ there are 625, of which 605 have data series with sufficient time coverage to verify the reference values. The hourly limit value is respected everywhere: in no station has 200 µg/m³, as an hourly average, been exceeded more than 18 times. The WHO reference value, which does not foresee exceeding 200 µg/m³, is exceeded in 5 stations (equal to 0.83% of stations with sufficient temporal coverage). The annual limit value, equal to 40 µg/m³ as an annual average, is exceeded in 10 stations (1.7%). The WHO reference value for long-term effects on human health, equal to 10 µg/m³ as an annual average, is exceeded in 444 stations (73.4%).

The indicator is based on the ozone concentration data in the atmosphere measured during 2024, in monitoring stations distributed across the national territory, collected and archived in ISPRA in the InfoAria database, in accordance with the provisions of Directive 2008/50/EC (and the legislative decree transposing Legislative Decree 155/2010) and Decision 2011/850/EU. The monitoring stations that measured and for which O. Data were transmitted ₃  there are 348., of which those with sufficient time coverage for the verification of the threshold values ​​and the long-term objective for the protection of human health are 331. The suburban, rural and rural background stations that respect the minimum percentage required for the calculation of the long-term objective for the protection of vegetation (AOT40v) are 158. The long-term objective for the protection of human health (OLT) was exceeded in almost all the stations: 83.4%. The percentage of stations where the OLT was exceeded for more than 25 days was 43.5%. The information threshold for health protection was exceeded in 17.5% of the stations while the alarm threshold was exceeded in only 1 station. The WHO reference value, equal to 100 µg/m³ as the 99th percentile, is exceeded in 310 stations (equal to 94% of the stations with sufficient temporal coverage). The long-term objective for vegetation protection (AOT40v) was exceeded in almost all stations (92.4%).

The indicator is based on PM concentration data _2,5 in the atmosphere measured during 2024 in monitoring stations distributed across the national territory, collected and archived in ISPRA in the InfoAria database, in accordance with the provisions of Directive 2008/50/EC (and the legislative decree transposing Legislative Decree 155/2010 and subsequent amendments) and Decision 2011/850/EU. The monitoring stations that measured and reported PM data _2,5 are 341, of these, 207 have data series with sufficient time coverage for the verification of the reference values ​​are 307. The annual limit value of the PM _2,5 (25 µg/m³) is respected in all cases. However, in the majority of monitoring stations, the WHO annual reference value of 5 µg/m³ is exceeded (97.7% of cases).

The indicator provides an estimate of the population at risk of landslides (risk of personal injury: dead, missing, injured, evacuated) on a national, regional, provincial and municipal basis. In Italy, the population at risk of landslides residing in areas with high and very high PAI danger (P3+P4) amounts to 1,284,960 inhabitants, equal to 2.2% of the total.

The indicator provides an estimate of the population at risk of landslides (risk of personal injury: dead, missing, injured, evacuated) on a national, regional, provincial and municipal basis. In Italy, the population at risk of landslides residing in areas with high and very high PAI danger (P3+P4) amounts to 1,284,960 inhabitants, equal to 2.2% of the total.

This indicator provides an overview of the population residing in flood-prone areas (population exposed to flood risk) at the national, regional, provincial, and municipal levels. In Italy, the population residing in areas with high hazard/probability is 4.1% of the total national population (2,431,847 people); those exposed to medium hazard/probability are 11.5% (6,818,375 people), while the population in areas with low hazard/probability is 20.6% (12,257,427 people).