The air we breathe in Italy is getting better, but not enough. This is the message emerging from the annual report by Snpa – the Sistema nazionale per la protezione dell'ambiente, which brings together the various regional Ispra agencies, published today with data for 2025. The improving trend is confirmed at a national level, but the new European air quality directive – which entered into force on 10 December 2024 and must be transposed by 2026 – significantly lowers the limits to be met, and sets a tight deadline: 1 January 2030.

Air quality within limits, but with exceptions

SNPA @SNPAmbiente

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Air quality in Italy in 2025: a snapshot of the main pollutants and the short- and long-term challenges snpambiente.it/la-qualita-del…
#smog #inquinamentoatmosferico

♥ 12 15 apr 2026 · Apri su X →

For PM10, fine particles with a diameter of up to 10 micrometres, the annual limit value of 40 micrograms per cubic metre (μg/m³) is met in all regions. The situation is more critical regarding the daily limit (50 μg/m³, not to be exceeded for more than 35 days per year): only 92 per cent of monitoring stations are compliant. The most problematic areas are the Po Valley basin, the Naples-Caserta conurbation and the Valle del Sacco, in the province of Frosinone. Isolated violations are also recorded in the Venafro plain, in the province of Isernia, and in Palermo. Compounding the winter picture, frequent atmospheric stagnation conditions – thermal inversions, high pressure, absence of wind and rain – have encouraged pollutants to linger.

As for PM2.5, even finer and more health-hazardous particles, the annual limit of 25 μg/m³ is met almost everywhere: compared to the decade average for 2015–2024, levels recorded in 2025 show an average reduction of 14 per cent.

Ozone levels remain problematic

Good news on the nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) front: the annual limit value is met at 99% of stations. Remaining exceedances are concentrated near major road arteries in the metropolitan areas of Milan, Genoa, Naples, Catania and Palermo. The decade-long trend confirms a marked and progressive reduction.

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Pollution in the Po Valley, an animation by the European Space Agency (ESA) #ANSA

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The situation is very different for ozone, where structural problems remain unresolved. Only 9 per cent of stations meet the long-term objective set by law (120 μg/m³ as the peak of the eight-hour moving average). The summer of 2025, marked by extreme heat and drought, further worsened the picture, with widespread exceedances of the population information threshold (180 μg/m³ for the hourly average) – the level triggered when acute exposure poses a health risk.

The 2030 deadline

The improvements recorded have already allowed some regions to exit European infringement proceedings: for PM10, Tuscany, Umbria and Puglia have come back within limits; for NO₂, the areas of Turin, Bergamo, Brescia, Florence, Rome and the highly urbanised Lombard plain have returned to normal.

But the new European Directive introduces significantly lower limits than the current ones, and the time to adapt is limited. Across much of Italian territory, current concentrations already exceed the guideline values of the World Health Organization, which identifies air pollution as one of the greatest environmental risks to health. What is needed, writes Snpa, are "additional strategies beyond those already implemented" and "a further, particularly significant, reduction in emissions." "We are heading in the right direction, but we need to do so quickly," declared Alessandra Gallone, president of Ispra and Snpa. "The new European Directive sets us ambitious targets by 2030: these are not merely constraints, but an opportunity to innovate and build a healthier future."