The double track of Italian sustainable mobility is a structural “spin”.

Behind the definition of sustainable mobility, at least in a European perspective, there is movement a complex system which must manage the organization of transport of people and goods efficiently and with minimal environmental, social and economic impact. The photography of Italy by late 2025/early 2026 shows a country that moves at two speeds, that of cities accustomed to managing thousands of people (even if not in a constantly optimal way) and that of provinces that are struggling, being overwhelmed by peaks of tourists. In the Southern Italy the situation is worsening: important cities, vital hubs for industry, commerce, transport and tourism are stuck on the infrastructure of the last century. In particular, in Sicily it was discovered that the tracks are unable to support the weight of “Blues” trains (The electric trains Latest generation HTR 412 made with 95% recycled material and “hybrid”, i.e. whose on-board systems and traction motors can be powered by two or more different sources of electrical energy), compared to 300 million euros spent.

Sustainable mobility in Italy is a two-speed train

While the large metropolises act as a frontrunner, demonstrating that they have now entered the march of transition – driven by sharing mobility and targeted investments that generate a positive response in the population, excluding however widespread vandalism – “the province” seems being systematically stuck on obsolete and inefficient (binary) systemsunable to follow the trajectory of virtuous cities. This dualism is creating the conditions for the “structural spin” mentioned in the title, which the report MobilitAria2025 he confirms.

Also the annual report drawn up by Kyoto Club and fromInstitute on Air Pollution of the CNR (IIA-CNR) speaks clearly: within the large urban ring roads sustainable mobility is no longer just an ambition, it is an evolving operational ecosystemwith metropolitan cities such as Milan and Rome which are driving the transition recording a significant increase in the use of sharing and micro-mobility services. Supporting this avant-garde are not only the services, but also the research. The National Center for Sustainable Mobility (MOST)financed by the PNRR, is working precisely on this front: developing lightweight solutions, which involve hydrogen as an ally – and not a rival – of battery electric mobility, and predictive digital systems to make our cities true Smart Cities, clean and technologically resilient.

However, focusing on traffic data risks letting much worse numbers go unnoticed, those relating to “premature deaths attributable to pollutants PM2.5, NO₂ and O₃”, i.e. Fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and tropospheric ozone. According to theEuropean Environment Agency (EEA) in 2022, air pollution-related deaths were 48,600, numbers that place our country at the “first place” in the EU27 for PM2.5 and NO2), as well as one of the European countries with the greatest health impact associated with exposure to the three pollutants we listed above.

Outside the city: the desert of the Internal Areas and the LPT emergency

Superficially, Italy seems to run, but looking closer you see a country that ends up at the first motorway toll booth. Once you leave the Grande Raccordo Anulare or the ring roads, the scenario changes frequency; as highlighted by LClean Cities Campaign Observatoryin the internal areas and in the widespread province the ecological transition clashes with the physics of absence. The Local Public Transport (LPT)underfunded and hit hard by inflation, it fails to offer a credible alternative to the private car. The result is a toxic paradox: Italy maintains one of the highest motorization rates in Europe (we prefer the car every time we have to travel, even for a few km). From the point of view of efficiency and low environmental impact, the Italian province suffers from a breaking load: fragile systems that collapse at the first peak of stress. Without an intermodal alternative, the private car remains the only form of survivalmaking the transition electric an unsustainable cost and no support infrastructure. And here we return, as in a loop, to the data on premature deaths, which are added to those of road accidents.

Bologna Città 30: the case study

If heavy infrastructure creates a gap due to enormous costs, there is a third way that is giving irrefutable results: the City 30. The 2025 Report of the Municipality of Bologna responded to the controversy with numbers: while in the large Italian municipalities accidents grew on average by +4.3%, in Bologna they plummeted with a 38% reduction in deaths and a decrease in serious injuries. It’s not just safety, it’s efficiency: fewer accidents means fewer queues, less traffic blocking, fewer healthcare costs. It is the demonstration that speed moderation is a measure with low capital intensity but with very high social impact, scalable from Milan to the small village.

When citizenship returns to take an active part

It went viral the habit of Swiss commuters from Bern and Basel to return home swimming in the Aare and Rhine rivers: very little is needed, a watertight waterproof bag (the Wickelfisch) to protect personal clothes and devices, and a pinch of initiative to decide to break away from the PA mold and reclaim a piece of one’s city. Beyond folklore, the habit of Swiss commuters shows how much impact the population can have when it decides not to remain passive in being allocated in certain spaces (pedestrians on the sidewalks, bicycles on cycle paths, cars on the road), but to become an active part again. The city is not a rigid container, but a living space that citizens can “hack” and reshape according to their needs. The Italy of 2026 must also follow this virtuous example, demonstrating that real change begins when each of us he stops being just a road user and goes back to being an inhabitant of the city.