Naples – "Gray cities verging on black." This is how Legambiente summarizes the picture of Campania's capital cities in the Urban Ecosystem 2025 report, produced with Ambiente Italia and Il Sole 24 Ore. The study provides a snapshot of the environmental quality of 106 Italian cities, and for Campania, the results are far from encouraging: performance remains low, critical issues are chronic, and signs of improvement are still weak.
The standings: Napoli still in the relegation zone
Naples remains fourth-to-last among Italian cities and the worst among large metropolitan areas. Caserta falls to 98th place, Salerno remains low in the rankings (87th), while Avellino records the only significant improvement, climbing to 52nd place (from 66th in 2024).
Benevento, on the other hand, lost ground: from 60th place they dropped to 80th.
"Our cities continue to suffer from the same emergencies, with overall performance declining," comments Francesca Ferro, director of Legambiente Campania. "There are many projects underway for the ecological transition, but only planning consistent with climate challenges can transform them into true urban redemption."
Smog and unbreathable air
Air quality remains one of the most serious emergencies. No city in Campania meets the new WHO guidelines for PM10, PM2.5, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
Naples recorded a worsening compared to 2023: 38 µg/m3 of NO2 (compared to 32 two years ago). Salerno stopped at 27 µg/m3.
For particulate matter (PM10), no city exceeds the regulatory limit, but Caserta (32 µg/m3), Naples (28) and Salerno (25) remain at high values.
Leaky water networks
Water losses remain alarming: Salerno and Caserta waste 61% of the water released into the network, Benevento 57%. Naples fares slightly better at 30%, but the average remains among the worst in Italy.
Waste and recycling: little progress
On the waste front, only Salerno exceeds the minimum legal target of 65% separate waste collection, reaching 74%.
Benevento and Avellino follow at 63%, Caserta at 55%, Naples at 44% (an improvement compared to 39,3% in 2024).
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Per capita production remains high in the Neapolitan capital: 537 kg per inhabitant per year, above the national average of 526.
Public transport: Naples is growing, but lagging behind.
The only positive sign comes from public transportation. In Naples, trips per capita will rise to 86 in 2024, a steady increase starting in 2021.
An encouraging trend, but still far from the standards of Milan (424 trips/inhabitant), Rome (277) and Florence (247).
Caserta, on the other hand, is among the ten Italian cities with fewer than 10 passengers per inhabitant, a sign of a practically non-existent system.
The number of vehicles traveled per inhabitant is 20 km/inhabitant in Naples, compared to 110 in Milan.
Urban greenery and public spaces
The Campanian cities are all below the national average for accessible greenery: Benevento leads with 23 m2 per inhabitant, followed by Caserta (18,3), Avellino (18), Salerno (10) and Naples (9,5).
Pedestrian areas remain limited: Benevento records the best extension (40 m² per 100 inhabitants), while Avellino closes with just 2,6 m².
Renewable energy: a missed opportunity
The clean energy front is disappointing. Only Avellino shows a reasonable diffusion of public photovoltaic systems (9,54 kW per 1000 inhabitants), followed by Benevento (5).
Naples and Salerno remain at the bottom of the list with almost zero values: 0,22 and 1,51 kW/1000 inhabitants respectively.
“Regenerate starting from the suburbs”
"We need new regulatory tools for urban regeneration consistent with the climate challenge," Ferro concludes. "We need to rethink common spaces, pedestrianize them, create green corridors, and create widespread forestation. Only in this way will Campania's cities be able to transform decarbonization into an opportunity for redemption and collective empowerment."
In short, the 2025 Urban Ecosystem depicts a Campania struggling on the road to sustainability: cities choked by traffic, wasted water, insufficient greenery, and uncontrolled smog. The potential is there, but the "ecological transition" remains, for now, more promise than reality.
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