Italian cities need 16,000 km more of cycle paths (compared to 2020), for a total of 21,000 km by 2030, to bridge the gap with the rest of Europe. The investment – from a conservative estimate of the economic needs – should be at least 3.2 billion euros over the next seven years, equal to 500 million euros a year, or just 3.5% of what is already allocated for the automotive sector and related infrastructures, but much more than what has been set up so far for cycling, i.e. 1.2 billion euros.
These are the figures contained in the dossier It is not a country for bikes, drawn up by Clean Cities, Fiab, Kyoto Club and Legambiente with the aim of taking stock of cycling in Italy and planning its development, to pursue decarbonisation objectives also through so-called soft mobility.
Italy invests in the car
According to the study, Italy invests in cars (almost) 100 times more than in bicycles: 98 billion euros for the automotive sector and road infrastructure against just over a billion for bicycle bonuses and urban and extra-urban cycle paths.
The Italian provincial capitals have an average of 2.8 km of cycle paths per ten thousand inhabitants, with large territorial disparities: from zero km in many central-southern capitals to 12-15km in Modena, Ferrara, Reggio Emilia. Many Italian cities are therefore bringing up the rear in the European context, but some are cycle-friendly such as Helsinki and Ghent (20 km/10,000 inhabitants), Amsterdam (14 km/10,000 inhabitants) and Copenhagen (8 km/10,000 inhabitants).
Venice the metropolitan city more cycling
Even the 14 metropolitan cities have an average of just 1.5 km of cycle lanes per ten thousand inhabitants. Venice is the metropolitan city with the most cycling, with over 6 km per ten thousand inhabitants, followed by Bologna at about 4 km; Milan, Turin and Florence have between 2 and 2.5 km, Rome has just 1 km per ten thousand inhabitants and Naples and Catania 0.2 and 0.3 respectively.