The polluting potential of cars is decreasing at a national level but, in the South, it remains high. This was revealed by Istat in a report on the vehicle fleet referring to 2024, the year in which Italy was the European Union country with the most cars in relation to the population: 701 per thousand inhabitants, compared to the European average of 578. According to the data, Naples, Catania, Palermo, Messina and Cagliari are, among the large cities, the most exposed to the environmental pressure of traffic, even if the index of the polluting potential of cars continues to improve.
In Reggio Calabria 725 cars per 1000 inhabitants. In Messina 698
Among the metropolitan capitals, Catania has the highest motorization value (824 cars per thousand inhabitants), followed by Reggio Calabria (725), Cagliari (709) and Messina (698), slightly less Palermo (more than 625). The motorization rate reaches its minimum in Venice (460 cars per thousand inhabitants) and its maximum in Frosinone (856). Compared to the previous year, for all the capitals, the motorization rate increased by 0.8%, in line with the increase observed at national level (+1.0%); it increases by more than 0.5% in 74 cities (including Turin, Venice, Bologna, Rome, Naples, Bari, Reggio Calabria, Palermo, Messina and Catania) and decreases by more than 0.5% in only three, including Genoa and Milan (the third is Monza). The most significant increases are observed between the capitals of the Northeast (+1.1%) and the South (+1.2%). The research, taking the value 100 as a reference, i.e. the numerical balance between cars with high and low polluting potential, explains that in 2024, the national value is 109.9 (it was 136.0 in 2019) and falls for the first time below 100 in the North-East (97.4). The values in the North-West and the center are also close to 100, while those in the South are still far from it. Among the capital municipalities, the index reaches its maximum in Catania (156.6) and exceeds 120 in 23 other cities in the South, including Naples, Reggio Calabria, Palermo, and Messina.