This case study looks at air quality in Rome with Antonio Amoroso from ARPA Lazio, the regional environmental agency who operates several air quality monitoring sites in the Lazio Region, including Rome.

Italy is among the top countries in Europe with the largest health impacts attributed to nitrogen dioxide exposure.

There are no major industries in Rome, thus automobiles are the primary cause of pollution. According to industry estimates, nearly two-thirds of the 1.8 million new cars sold in Italy in 2017 were diesel. Since then, however, there has been a reduction in diesel car registrations, with around 452,000 units registered in 2020, marking a year-on-year drop of over 40%. On days when pollution levels reach dangerous levels, the city strives to ban older, more polluting vehicles from the roads, and they plan to ban petrol and diesel car sales by 2035.

Aside from health concerns, pollution from combustion engines causes significant damage to Rome's many ancient outdoor monuments, such as soiling of the Colosseum's limestone surface, which costs over €680,000 to repair each year.

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Featured Educator

• Dr Antonio Amoroso, Environmental Chemist, ARPA

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