Rome is the most populous city in Italy. With 2.75 million inhabitants, the capital of the country put ahead Milan and Naples. Compared to the number of citizens in 2012, the resident population of Rome increased by over 140,000 individuals. Regional data Rome is located in the center of Italy in the Lazio region. Lazio is the second-largest region in terms of population size after Lombardy. In 2024, the region counts roughly 5.7 million inhabitants, whereas Lombardy has over ten million individuals. The third-largest region is Campania, with 5.6 million people. Naples, the major center of Campania, has around 910,000 inhabitants at the beginning of 2024. Nevertheless, this city was, back in the 19th century, one of the largest cities in Western Europe. Tourism in Rome The Eternal City is also the main tourist destination in Italy and was the eighth most-visited city in Europe. The largest groups of international visitors in Rome came from the United States of America, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Every year, more and more tourists also enjoy the best-known tourist attractions in Rome, like the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Palatine Hill, which together recorded almost ten million visitors in 2022.

Argentina has the largest Italian population outside of Italy, with around 1.17 million Italians residing in the South American country as of 2023. This community represented almost one fifth of all citizens residing outside the Republic, seven million. Germany hosted the second-largest community, with about 900,000 Italians, while in Brazil lived around 790,000 people with Italian citizenship. In total, three million Italians resided in the Americas, whereas 3.5 million in other European countries. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Argentina was one of the main destinations for Italian emigrants, in particular in the early 1900s. Increasing tendency to emigrate  Between 2006 and 2020, the number of Italians living abroad constantly increased. As of 2020, over five million Italians lived outside their homeland. Data related to the educational level of the emigrated population show that one third of the academics decided to leave the country. In 2017, 32.5 percent of Italians holding a university degree did not reside in Italy. Better jobs and lower taxes  When asked about the reasons why leaving their country, the opportunity to pay lower taxes and have better jobs played an important role. Indeed, about 43 percent of Italians declared to be ready to leave Italy for a place where taxes were lower. In addition, roughly 37 percent could leave Italy for better working chances.

Argentina is the country with the second largest Italian population in the world. As of January 2019, around 842.6 thousand Italian citizens who were residents abroad were living in Argentina. This represents almost 16 percent of all Italians living abroad worldwide, according to the Registry of Italian Residents Abroad. Brazil was the second favorite Latin American destination for Italians who lived abroad, with over 447 thousand Italian citizens registered there.

This statistic shows the ten largest cities in Italy in 2025. In 2025, around 2.75 million people lived in Rome, making it the largest city in Italy. Population of Italy Italy has high population figures and a high population density in comparison to other European countries. A vast majority of Italians lives in urban areas and in the metropolises (as can be seen in this statistic), while other areas, such as the island Sardinia, are rather sparsely inhabited. After an increase a few years ago, Italy’s fertility rate, i.e. the average amount of children born to a woman of childbearing age, is now on a slow decline; however, it is still high enough to offset any significant effect the decrease might have on the country’s number of inhabitants. The median age of Italy’s population has been increasing rapidly over the past 50 years – which mirrors a lower mortality rate – and Italy is now among the countries with the highest life expectancy worldwide, only surpassed by two Asian countries, namely Japan and Hong Kong. Currently, the average life expectancy at birth in Italy is at about 83 years. Most of Italy’s population is of Roman Catholic faith. The country actually boasts one of the largest numbers of Catholics worldwide; other such countries include Brazil, Mexico and the United States. The central government of the Roman Catholic Church, the Holy See, is located in Vatican City in the heart of Italy’s capital and ruled by the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. Officially, Vatican City does not belong to Italy, but is a sovereign state with its own legislation and jurisdiction. It has about 600 inhabitants, who are almost exclusively members of the clergy or government officials.

In the academic year 2023/2023, 112,000 students were enrolled at La Sapienza University of Rome, the largest Italian university. Pegaso online University followed with 99,600 enrollments. Around 84,000 students attended classes in Bologna, the oldest university in the world and the best in the country. Finally, the University of Turin collected 77,000 students. In total, 1.9 million undergraduates were enrolled at Italian universities. Ancient, public, and digital higher education Among the 20 largest Italian universities, 16 of them are public institutes. The four private universities are the Catholic University of Milan and three online universities. Among them, Pegaso University was founded in 2006 and counts 95,000 students. Many of the world's oldest higher-learning institutions are located in Italy. The University of Bologna is the oldest university, continuously operating since 1088. In 1222, scholars from Bologna founded the University of Padua. Two years later, in 1224, the University of Naples Federico II was established, the oldest public and secular institution globally. In the 14th century were constituted the universities of Perugia, Siena, Pisa, and Pavia. Popular courses of study Back in the Middle Ages, the University of Bologna offered mainly subjects of liberal arts, law, and theology. However, these seem to rank lower among the most common degrees nowadays. Almost 270,000 students in Italy enrolled in medicine programs, the most popular field of study. Moreover, economics was the second most chosen degree program.

Rome is the largest Italian metropolitan area. As of 2024, the urban area of the capital city has a population of around 4.23 million people. Milan and Naples follow with 3.25 million and 2.97 million people, respectively. In terms of inhabitants per square kilometer, Naples, located in the south, has the highest population density. Rome, Milan, and Naples are also Italy's largest cities.

Italy is a country in the Mediterranean area surrounded by the Tyrrhenian, Ionian and Adriatic Seas. The territory of Italy consists of the Appenine Penisula and roughly 450 islands. The country’s biggest island, which at the same time constitutes its largest administrative region, is Sicily.

Tourism on the island

Every year many tourists from all around the globe come to Sicily to admire its rich culture, discover the history, enjoy breathtaking landscapes, taste some cannoli or climb Mount Etna. In 2018, the most visited area of the island was the province of Palermo, which registered approximately 1.14 million tourist arrivals.

Sicily, the land of volcanoes

Mount Etna, the symbol of Sicily, is one of the most active volcanos in the world. It is not, however, the only phenomena of this kind in the region - apart from Etna, there are other five volcanos located on the Sicilian territory. Overall in 2019, there were nine active volcanoes in Italy, six located in Sicily, two - Mount Vesuvius and Phlegraean Fields – in Campania and the last one in the area of Colli Albani in Lazio.

Latium was the region in Italy with the highest number of engineering companies in the top 200 for that segment. As reflected in the ranking, Latium, which is the region where Rome is, and Lombardy, whose largest city is Milan, were the capitals of the engineering sector in Italy.

A 2025 poll conducted in Italy showed that 17 percent of users browsed the website of TgCom24 on a weekly basis to read the news, while La Repubblica online, the web version of the national newspaper, was used as a news source by just 12 percent of respondents. The website of news agency Ansa was accessed regularly by 17 percent of Italian internet users participating in the survey. La Repubblica online According to data from December 2020, the website of the national newspaper La Repubblica had a daily online reach of about 621 thousand users through desktops, while over 2.8 million users land on the site through smartphones. Between 2014 and 2018, the average daily audience seemed to have increased from 1.6 to 2.9 million users, and the website became more popular on social networks. On the Facebook page alone, the number of fans increased from 2.5 million fans in 2015 to about four million fans in the first half of 2018.  Users opinion A poll released in 2017 indicated the main opinions of Italian readers about the website of La Repubblica. 30 percent of respondents believed the online newspaper had strong viewpoints and 28 percent thought it helped understanding complex issues.

In 2024, *************** was the largest bank in Italy, with total assets exceeding *** million euros. Alongside ****************, it played a dominant role in the Italian banking sector. With more than ***** branches nationwide, Intesa Sanpaolo also held the distinction of having the most extensive branch network in the country. Fewer banks, fewer branches Over the past decade, the total number of banks and credits institutions in Italy has steadily declined, falling to fewer than *** by 2022. This downward trend was mirrored by a consistent reduction in the number of bank branches across the country during the same period. Online banking on the rise The decline in the number of bank branches was not solely the result of a reduction in the number of banks and credit institutions. Increasing adoption of online banking has also contributed to the diminishing relevance of physical branches. Additionally, the emergence of new players in the financial sector - such as digital banks and fintech service providers - has attracted a growing number of customers in recent years.

As of November 2024, Intesa Sanpaolo was the largest bank in Italy by market capitalization, with a value of nearly 79 billion U.S. dollars. Along with its competitor UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo dominates the Italian banking sector. These two Italian banks are not only leaders in their domestic market, but also rank among the leading banks in Europe based on market capitalization. What is market capitalization? Market capitalization, often used as a measurement of a company’s size, is calculated by multiplying the number of outstanding shares by the current market price of one share. Market capitalization is an important metric for investors as it is simple to calculate and is also a good indicator for risk assessment. Banks are usually among the most valuable companies listed on the stock exchange. For example, Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit generally rank among the top companies listed on the Milan Stock Exchange. Intesa Sanpaolo goes global Intesa Sanpaolo was formed in 2007 through the merger of Banca Intesa and Gruppo Sanpaolo IMI. The newly created bank became the leader in Italy's banking sector. Over the years, the banking group has also developed a strategic international presence. As a result of this global strategy, Intesa Sanpaolo counted over 4,200 bank branches and 94,000 employees worldwide in 2023.

Naples is the Italian city with the highest population density. As of 2024, the largest south Italian city counts 7,800 inhabitants per square kilometer. Milan followed with 7,600 residents per square kilometer, whereas Rome, the largest Italian city, registered a population density of only 2,100 people, 5,700 inhabitants per square kilometer less than Naples.

In 2025, Italy’s resident population is estimated to be almost 59 million inhabitants. About one-sixth of them lived in Lombardy, the most populous region in the country. Lazio and Campania followed, with roughly 5.7 million and 5.6 million inhabitants, respectively. These figures are mainly driven by Rome and Naples, the administrative capitals of these regions, and two of the largest metropolitan areas in the country. Which region has the oldest population? The population in Italy has become older and older over the last years. The average age in the country is equal to 46.8 years, but in some regions this figure is even higher. Liguria records an average age of 49.6 years and has one of the lowest birth rates in the country. Demographic trends for the future Liguria’s case, however, is not an outlier. Italy is already the country with the highest share of old people in Europe. At the same time, the very low number of new births means that, despite an always-increasing life expectancy, the Italian population is declining. Indeed, projections estimate that the country will have five million fewer inhabitants by 2050.

As of 2023, more than 6.1 million Italians lived abroad. In particular, the largest community of migrants was in Argentina, as this country was hosting around 953,000 Italian citizens. Two European states followed in the ranking, Germany and Switzerland, while Brazil had the fourth-largest Italian emigrated population. In total, about 3.32 million emigrants lived in other European countries, while 2.5 million resided in the Americas.

Ferrari was the leading company in Italy as of October 11, 2024, with a market capitalization amounting to approximately ***** billion U.S. dollars. Enel and Intesa Sanpaolo followed as the second and third largest companies, with market capitalization of approximately ***** and ***** billion U.S. dollars, respectively. Milan Stock Exchange The all listed companies saw a more modest decrease compared to Italian companies, with their combined value reaching approximately *** billion euros that same year. Despite this, the average daily turnover has consistently risen, reaching nearly *** billion euros that year, correlating this trend to a continuous

Wine production is one of the leading industries in Italy. This statistic displays the leading ten Italian wineries in Italy from 2014 to 2022, broken down by turnover value. According to the data, in 2022 the leading Italian winery was C.Riunite & CIV with 698.5 million euros of annual turnover. The group Argea, formed by the merger of Botter and Mondo del Vino, followed with a total annual turnover of 455.1 million euros.

In 2023, Lombardy led the way in the architecture and design sector in Italy. In fact, nearly half of the revenue generated by the leading 200 Italian firms in this market was generated by companies headquartered in this region. Lombardy also was the region in Italy with the highest number of architecture and design firms firms.

The contractor with the largest total revenue in Italy in 2023 was Webuild, a civil engineering and construction company. The company, previously called the Salini Impregilo group, had a revenue of over **** billion U.S. dollars. Founded in 1906, Webuild is one of the largest Italian civil engineering groups. It is also one of the 100 biggest construction companies worldwide. Maire was the following company with the highest revenue that year.

As of 2024, Romanians were Italy's largest foreign population, with over one million Romanians living in Italy during the period considered. Albania and Morocco followed with 416,000 and 412,000 people, respectively. From a regional perspective, the Northern regions had the largest foreign population. Lombardy had some 1.1 million foreign residents, the largest in the country.

In 2020, BonelliErede was the leading law firm in Italy in terms of revenue. The Milan-headquarter law firm generated *** million euros in revenue. Second in the list came PwC TLS, with a revenue of ***** million euros.