ROME, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Several Italian cities exceeded air pollution limits both last year and in the period 2010-2019, a report by Italy's largest environment group Legambiente said on Thursday.
The 2019 was "a black year for air quality, with 26 urban centers exceeding limits for both particulate matter (PM10) and ground-level ozone (O3)," Legambiente stressed.
The country's limits for such pollutants are 35 days and 25 days maximum per calendar year respectively.
Overall, the report said 54 provincial capitals out of 109 (the province being the intermediate administrative body between city and region) showed levels above limit of either M10 or O3 last year.
Lying in the Po Valley in northwest Piedmont, the city of Turin ranked worst at national level, breaking limits for 147 days -- 86 days for PM10 and 61 days for ground-level ozone.
It was followed by Lodi and Pavia, both in northern Lombardy region, which exceeded limits for 135 days and 130 days overall, respectively.
The problem was particularly felt in northern Italian cities, which occupied all the first 25 positions in the air pollution ranking, and especially those lying in the Po Valley's plain, researchers noted.
Some central and southern cities also performed badly last year in terms of air quality, and especially during the hot Italian summer.
Among these, Rome had 27 days of above-limit levels (of PM10, O3, or both), Florence 30 days, Naples 36 days (only for PM10), Caserta 52, and Enna in Sicily 50.
The report also provided an assessment of the air quality in the period 2010-2019, which showed a "clear improvement in the number of Italian cities exceeding PM10 levels."
"Considering the last 10 years... we have moved from 62 urban centers breaking the PM10 limits in 2010 to 26 urban centers exceeding them in 2019," the report stressed.
Nonetheless, air pollution has remained "an awful constant" for Italian major urban centers, with 67 of them entering the national ranking for breaking limits (for one or both pollutants) at least once in the 10-year period analyzed.
Authored by the scientific committee of Legambiente, the annual report is based on official data provided by either the regional governments or the Regional Environmental Protection Agencies (ARPA).
