Smog emergency: here are the most polluted cities of 2022 in Italy

The “black jersey” at national level for the greatest particulate pollution (PM10) in 2022 still remains on Turin’s shoulders. According to the data published in “Mal’Aria di città – Change of pace wanted”, the report prepared by Legambiente and published as part of the Clean Cities Campaign, in fact, it is in the shadow of the Mole Antonelliana that the highest levels of smog in the whole peninsula are recorded. Next, behind the 98 days of overrun (50 micrograms per cubic meter) in the Piedmontese capital, we find Milan, where the bell in via Senato rang 84 times, and Asti (79). In total, in 2022, 29 out of 95 cities exceeded the daily limits (set at 35 micrograms per cubic meter) of PM10. Among these we also find Modena, Padua and Venice, while in the national top ten the south is represented by the city of Andria, in Puglia. These centers have effectively doubled the number of allowed overruns. A similar situation also as regards pollution from nitrogen dioxide (NO2), with Lombardy confirming itself at the top among the regions (with Milan, Como and Monza) followed by Trentino Alto Adige (with Bolzano and Trento), Piedmont (Turin), Veneto (Padua) and Liguria (Genoa). Moving on we also find, always in this special classification, Rome and the Sicilian cities of Catania and Palermo. “Air pollution is not only an environmental problem, but also a health problem of great importance – says Stefano Ciafani, national president of Legambiente -. In Europe, it is the first cause of premature death due to environmental factors and Italy registers a sad record with more than 52 thousand deaths per year from PM2.5, equal to a fifth of those recorded throughout the continent.It is necessary to act urgently to safeguard the health of citizens, introducing effective and integrated policies that affect the different sources of smog, from mobility to heating of buildings, from industry to agriculture”. Among the proposals of the environmental association to try to reverse this trend there are important investments in public transport, the redesign of the city space with pedestrianization and zones 30.