Italian Provincial Capitals Research Articles

Measuring Italian art cities tourism: a proposal of indicators

In Italy, art cities have traditionally served as “magnets” for cultural tourism, significantly contributing to the country’s economic vitality. Many historic city centers are not simply “boxes” of artworks but are veritable open-air museums. In recent years, the profile of cultural and experiential visitors has increasingly oriented towards experiences that can be enjoyed individually or with family. While the traditional tourism system continues to offer conventional tourist products, it is also evolving to meet the growing demand for unique and unforgettable experiences. This represents new challenges for destination areas that seek to improve services and create attractions that can meet this emerging new audience. The objective of this work is to propose a composite indicator that measures the tourism potential of these art cities, drawing upon existing tourism indexes in the literature and equitable and sustainable well-being (BES) indicators, such as the domains of “landscape and cultural heritage” and “environment”. The decision to employ these indicators stems from their considerable relevance in a country like Italy, as well as the specific focus of our study. Additionally, we developed a ranking of Italian art cities, enabling us to determine their relative levels of attractiveness. To achieve this, a panel of Italian provincial capitals was selected, each with at least one museum and a UNESCO site. The composite indicator developed, which also considers social and environmental perspectives, represents an alternative quantitative approach to assessing the attractiveness of art cities. The underlying principle is that, in the ever-evolving scene of cultural tourism, beyond the indispensable role played by artistic and cultural heritage, the impact of scenic landscapes on people's quality of life and its connection to individual well-being plays a crucial role. This indicator could provide territorial planning professionals with statistical tools capable of identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the tourism offer of those cities that set themselves the goal of being a privileged place of artistic tourist attraction. The proposed composite indicator should make it possible to comprehend whether and how to develop paths to enhance the entire artistic heritage, while also considering the well-being of visitors.

Are medium-sized cities strong nodes in the settlement system? Demographic trends of Italian provincial capitals from 2000 to the Covid-19 pandemic

Medium-sized cities are an important component of the settlement system and are often described as a joining link between urban and rural areas. However, in recent decades they have been impacted by growing competition from large cities which have tremendous appeal for the post-Fordist economy and for various segments of the population. This paper analyses the demographic trajectories of 99 medium-sized cities in Italy with provincial capital status, from the beginning of the twenty-first century to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over a twenty-year period marked by many difficulties for the Italian economy in an international context, what has the demographic performance of these cities been? The research addresses two areas. On the one hand, it analyses the demographic vitality of the provincial capitals compared to the metropolitan centres; on the other, it follows the redistribution of populations in the provincial capitals’ urban areas, which coincide with the employment areas (Sistemi locali del lavoro). Significant behavioural discontinuities emerge between the decade of 2000-2010 and the following decade, which was characterised by a gradual recovery after the shock of the Great Recession. The picture was changed further by the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, persistent differences between the medium-sized cities of Northern and Southern Italy stand out, but so do new internal divisions within the country, reframing this historical dualism.

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CHOICE OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP (PPP) FOR THE PROVISION OF SOCIAL SERVICES

The aim of this paper is to investigate some elements that might influence the choice of PPP as a managerial form for the provision of social services at the local government level, given the contribution of this type of services to social sustainability. To this end, we apply the GLS method to a sample consisting of all 116 Italian provincial capitals over a three years period (no. 2,088 observations). The analysis highlights that: 1) the financial commitment of the municipality is not correlated with the use of PPPs; 2) the rightwing and Star Movement political orientation of local government shows a negative correlation with the use of PPPs; 3) a larger population to be assisted does not lead to a higher use of PPPs. Finally, we suggest some desirable lines of future research some thoughts in support of public management.

Human resource management in public transports: organizational typologies and research actions

PurposeStudying bus local public transport in 20 Italian provincial capitals, the present paper aims to identify organizational factors to assess different modes of service managerial steering.Design/methodology/approachStarting from bureaucratic theory, the paper analyzes four different modes of managerial steering in a regression model that accounts for several variables to assess the quality of Italian bus local public service transport.FindingsThe research shows that a network managerial structure performs significantly better than any other type. The 20 provincial capitals are homogeneous in relation to the variables considered. Italian bus local public transport is managed by bureaucratic public organizations. Adhocracy, as opposed to machine bureaucracy, seems to be the more effective mode of managerial steering for sector specific aspects in different capitals, despite that, network managerial structure – associated adhocracy – is used only in five capitals (main cities).Originality/valueThe paper highlights that the dichotomy between machine bureaucracy versus adhocracy shows interesting considerations related to different mode to management of Italian bus local public service transport.

Rethinking performance measurement models using a fuzzy logic system approach: a performative exploration on ownership in waste management

Literature on performance measurement in waste management service, usually considers assessment tools and methods that focus only on a specific dimension of performance and lacks methods and models that simultaneously consider more dimensions. In this study, adopting the fuzzy logic expert system, we propose a performance measurement model that simultaneously considers three performance dimensions: profitability, financial characteristics and efficiency. To show its empirical implementation, a quantitative analysis was developed regarding the service provided in the 106 Italian provincial capitals that have different owner structures (private, public and mixed). As output, the fuzzy logic system approach adopted generated a rating for the assessment of the performance of the entities, and then a ranking of the cities based on the same. The main results show that: 1) the public owned companies that provide the waste management service have an overall better performance than those with private or mixed ownerships; 2) cities that entrust the waste management service to the same company do not occupy an adjacent position in the ranking.As practical implications, the proposed model can help public administrators: a) to control the outcomes of their entities (as the TARI); b) to make a decision whether to provide solid waste management services directly or through a private entity chosen to provide the service in return for a negotiated fee; c) to compare waste management services provided in different cities in an objective way and to monitor their performance over time, with the aim of achieving continuous improvement. The model's outcomes are useful to assist public managers and politicians in assessing the compliance level of performance goals related to the solid waste service; while the overall performance index is a useful tool to assist the decision-making process leading to change either fully or partially, their nature from public to mixed or private. The proposed method is able to formalize and automate the decision-making process concerning the evaluation of the performance of waste management, reducing the distortions of the political and environmental context.

Housing Values and the Residential Settlement of Migrants: Zooming in on Neighbourhoods in Italian Provincial Capitals

This study looks at the relationship between housing values (prices and rents) and the residential settlement of migrants in different neighbourhoods in Italian provincial capitals. We exploit here the high spatial resolution dataset on the settlement of migrants developed within the Data for Integration (D4I) project. The D4I information on resident population characteristics was merged with a dataset on housing values for civilian and economic residential units using boundaries defined by local housing market characteristics. The results suggest that: (1) more diverse neighbourhoods are also those with relatively lower housing values; (2) the relationship between housing values and the concentration of migrants is non-linear; and (3) the sign and significance of the association varies significantly depending on the origin of migrants.

Factors determining the diffusion of COVID-19 and suggested strategy to prevent future accelerated viral infectivity similar to COVID

This study has two goals. The first is to explain the geo-environmental determinants of the accelerated diffusion of COVID-19 that is generating a high level of deaths. The second is to suggest a strategy to cope with future epidemic threats similar to COVID-19 having an accelerated viral infectivity in society. Using data on sample of N = 55 Italian province capitals, and data of infected individuals at as of April 7th, 2020, results reveal that the accelerate and vast diffusion of COVID-19 in North Italy has a high association with air pollution of cities measured with days exceeding the limits set for PM10 (particulate matter 10 μm or less in diameter) or ozone. In particular, hinterland cities with average high number of days exceeding the limits set for PM10 (and also having a low wind speed) have a very high number of infected people on 7th April 2020 (arithmetic mean is about 2200 infected individuals, with average polluted days greater than 80 days per year), whereas coastal cities also having days exceeding the limits set for PM10 or ozone but with high wind speed have about 944.70 average infected individuals, with about 60 average polluted days per year; moreover, cities having more than 100 days of air pollution (exceeding the limits set for PM10), they have a very high average number of infected people (about 3350 infected individuals, 7th April 2020), whereas cities having less than 100 days of air pollution per year, they have a lower average number of infected people (about 1014 individuals). The findings here also suggest that to minimize the impact of future epidemics similar to COVID-19, the max number of days per year that Italian provincial capitals or similar industrialized cities can exceed the limits set for PM10 or for ozone, considering their meteorological conditions, is about 48 days. Moreover, results here reveal that the explanatory variable of air pollution in cities seems to be a more important predictor in the initial phase of diffusion of viral infectivity (on 17th March 2020, b1 = 1.27, p < 0.001) than interpersonal contacts (b2 = 0.31, p < 0.05). In the second phase of maturity of the transmission dynamics of COVID-19, air pollution reduces intensity (on 7th April 2020 with b′1 = 0.81, p < 0.001) also because of the indirect effect of lockdown, whereas regression coefficient of transmission based on interpersonal contacts has a stable level (b′2 = 0.31, p < 0.01). This result reveals that accelerated transmission dynamics of COVID-19 is due to mainly to the mechanism of “air pollution-to-human transmission” (airborne viral infectivity) rather than “human-to-human transmission”. Overall, then, transmission dynamics of viral infectivity, such as COVID-19, is due to systemic causes: general factors that are the same for all regions (e.g., biological characteristics of virus, incubation period, etc.) and specific factors which are different for each region and/or city (e.g., complex interaction between air pollution, meteorological conditions and biological characteristics of viral infectivity) and health level of individuals (habits, immune system, age, sex, etc.). Lessons learned for COVID-19 in the case study here suggest that a proactive strategy to cope with future epidemics is also to apply especially an environmental and sustainable policy based on reduction of levels of air pollution mainly in hinterland and polluting cities- (having low wind speed, high percentage of moisture and number of fog days) -that seem to have an environment that foster a fast transmission dynamics of viral infectivity in society. Hence, in the presence of polluting industrialization in regions that can trigger the mechanism of air pollution-to-human transmission dynamics of viral infectivity, this study must conclude that a comprehensive strategy to prevent future epidemics similar to COVID-19 has to be also designed in environmental and socioeconomic terms, that is also based on sustainability science and environmental science, and not only in terms of biology, medicine, healthcare and health sector.

A Feasibility Analysis of The Refurbishment Investments in The Italian Residential Market

In the present research the financial convenience of refurbishment investments concerning residential properties located in the Italian territory was analyzed. The study aimed at determining the unit profit range for a potential investor deriving from the refurbishment of residential properties and contextualizing the analysis to the Italian provincial capitals. With reference to the three macro-areas that for geographic and socio-economic differences define the Italian territory, namely the North, Center, South and Islands, three financial convenience maps were elaborated with the aim of providing a useful support in the investment choices of private and public operators. In particular, the financial convenience maps could guide the private operators in their investment decisions through a higher awareness of the achievable earnings and could help to identify the optimal allocation of financial resources due to the increase in the market value of the refurbished property. For the public administrations, instead, the study will be a useful reference for the calibration of the fiscal policy decisions regarding the incentives for building refurbishment at the different territorial scales and of the tax revenues related to the increase in the market value of the refurbished properties.

Social sustainability and local authorities: What is the relationship between spending commitments and social issues?

•We test if there is a relationship between the social expenses incurred by local authorities and their social issues.•We analyse the social expenses of the Italian provincial capitals (n. 116) and some social indicators.•We select the social indicators through interviews and statistical process.•The relationship between the values is measured through Spearman's correlation coefficient.•The local governments’ financial commitment in social policies results indifferent to the real social needs.

Immigrants and the City: The Relevance of Immigration on Housing Price Gradient

Foreign citizens are a more and more significant part of the population of Italian cities and society (8% of the country’s total population), and they contribute to changes in the cultural, social, and economic structure of the country. Our aim was to assess the incidence of the immigrant population on urban house price polarization, as measured using an original indicator: the center-periphery housing price gradient. While there is ample literature on the relationship between average prices and immigrant populations, less research has been conducted on immigration and the housing price gradient on a national scale. This price gradient may indicate whether immigration contributes to changing the residential market, also possibly revealing segregation phenomena. We ran multivariate regressions in several steps on an original dataset of housing prices and socio-economic factors concerning 112 Italian provincial capitals to elucidate whether immigration is correlated with the housing market divide. Our main findings confirmed that larger immigrant populations coincide with steeper housing price gradients on a national scale. Our tests also demonstrated that the relevance of this phenomenon varies for different urban forms, confirming related to housing price dynamics between the cities of northern and southern Italy the relevance of urban density in elucidating.

Is social polarization related to urban density? Evidence from the Italian housing market

The aim of this work is to assess variations in housing market polarization in Italian cities since 2008, during the years of economic recession in Italy. An index of market polarization was constructed and correlated with urban density and socio-economic factors, as proxies for urban development of the Southern Euro countries.The hypothesis is that social polarization has increased since 2008, when an economic and sovereign debt crisis began, and is negatively correlated with housing market trends in more densely populated cities than in sprawl territories. Multivariate regression on housing price variations since 2008, with a dataset of economic variables concerning 112 Italian provincial capitals, was used to verify the hypothesis, and analysis confirmed that housing market polarization had increased since 2008 and shows significant statistical correlations with urban density, socio-economic characteristics, and housing affordability. Empirical evidence also demonstrates the close relationship among price trends, urban density, and the socio–economic structure of urban populations.

Assessing Public Preferences and the Level of Transparency in Government Using an Exploratory Approach

Any information disclosed by governments should serve the purpose it is meant to fulfill. This is an underlying pillar of transparency. Our article assesses whether the information citizens consider to be most relevant for interaction with the authorities is actually disclosed. Our research was conducted on the population of the 117 Italian provincial capitals. A sample of 500 Italian citizens were interviewed with the purpose of understanding which type of information they consider most relevant, given the choice of institutional, political, financial, and service delivery–related information. The results indicate that Italian provincial capitals currently fail to publish the information that citizens consider to be most relevant: Despite differences in opinions among users, the sample we analyzed tends to rate the importance of service-delivery transparency and financial transparency higher than institutional or political transparency, whereas most information disclosed by Italian provincial capitals is associated with data they are obliged to disclose in order to comply with transparency regulations.

Evoluzione storica delle misure orarie in Italia

The present paper represents a research on the historical evolution, in Italy, regarding the measurement of hours during the day. A few cosmographical theoric recalls are offered to clarify how the problem should be considered from the astronomical viewpoint. A review is then made of the different chronometrical scales adopted in Italy, since Roman times; then, later, in the High and Low Medieval periods down to modern and contemporary times. All the different chronometrical scales adopted, in their historical evolution, are investigated: temporary, equinoctial, Italian hours, true local, mean local, civil, time hours a.m. and p.m., mean Rome, Mean Central European, Universal and finally Universally Coordinate, time hours; the intermittent adoption of legal summer time, is recalled. The importance of the problem is evidenced on account of the repercussion that an inaccurate interpretation of the different time measures given in historical times can have on geophysical events, and especially on an indexing of seismic events occurring in epochs prior to the existence of radiosignalled time. To illustrate the research, reference is made to the classical treatise of Baratta «1 terremoti d'ltalia » (ed. 1901): possibility of alterations of the fina lresults can be observed unless special attention is given to the original chronicles. The alterations can even produce a date change or a repetition, in the same catalogue, of the same event. Reliability criteria are suggested for hour data in function of the epoch of the event, as well as for the chronometrical scale employed in evidencing said event. In appendix some passages drawn from a study made by Serpieri on the Rimini earthquake of March 18, 1875 that confirm tre difficulties evidence are reported. Some tables are also reported: a table that gives the start of the clay for the calculation of Italian hours at different latitude sand at different days of the year, prior to and after the Gregorian reformation of the calendar, as well as the corresponding time equations (App. E); a table that gives the geoghaphical coordinates of the Italian provincial capitals with the longitudes (referred to Greenwich and Rome) expressed in time (App. D); a table showing time periods where legal (summer) time was adopted instead of solar time (App. B); a table of intercalar seconds of Universal Coordinate time (App. A).

The direct election of mayors: an assessment of the institutional reform following the Italian municipal elections of 2001

On 13 May 2001, the same day as the general elections, municipal elections were held in more than 1,000 municipalities, including all the major Italian cities (Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin). Incumbents already re-elected once could not stand because of the two-term limit. This in many cases opened the way for a renewal of mayoralties. This article aims to provide a balanced assessment of the process of direct mayoral elections by using data relating to electoral behaviour, stability and mayoral recruitment inside the 103 Italian provincial capitals (the capoluoghi ) to complement an analysis of the reform of 1993. On the basis of the theoretical analysis and the empirical evidence provided, it is argued that the direct election of mayors, and more generally the neo-parliamentary system of government, represents an example of a successful institutional reform.