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.

Throughout the early modern period, the largest city in Italy was Naples. The middle ages saw many metropolitan areas along the Mediterranean grow to become the largest in Europe, as they developed into meeting ports for merchants travelling between the three continents. Italy, throughout this time, was not a unified country, but rather a collection of smaller states that had many cultural similarities, and political control of these cities regularly shifted over the given period. Across this time, the population of each city generally grew between each century, but a series of plague outbreaks in the 1600s devastated the populations of Italy's metropolitan areas, which can be observed here. Naples At the beginning of the 1500s, the Kingdom of Naples was taken under the control of the Spanish crown, where its capital grew to become the largest city in the newly-expanding Spanish Empire. Prosperity then grew in the 16th and 17th centuries, before the city's international importance declined in the 18th century. There is also a noticeable dip in Naples' population size between 1600 and 1700, due to an outbreak of plague in 1656 that almost halved the population. Today, Naples is just the third largest city in Italy, behind Rome and Milan. Rome Over 2,000 years ago, Rome became the first city in the world to have a population of more than one million people, and in 2021, it was Italy's largest city with a population of 2.8 million; however it did go through a period of great decline in the middle ages. After the Fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476CE, Rome's population dropped rapidly, below 100,000 inhabitants in 500CE. 1,000 years later, Rome was an important city in Europe as it was the seat of the Catholic Church, and it had a powerful banking sector, but its population was just 55,000 people as it did not have the same appeal for merchants or migrants held by the other port cities. A series of reforms by the Papacy in the late-1500s then saw significant improvements to infrastructure, housing, and sanitation, and living standards rose greatly. Over the following centuries, the Papacy consolidated its power in the center of the Italian peninsula, which brought stability to the region, and the city of Rome became a cultural center. Across this period, Rome's population grew almost three times larger, which was the highest level of growth of these cities.

In 1500, the largest city was Paris, with an estimated 225 thousand inhabitants, almost double the population of the second-largest city, Naples. As in 1330, Venice and Milan remain the third and fourth largest cities in Western Europe, however Genoa's population almost halved from 1330 until 1500, as it was struck heavily by the bubonic plague in the mid-1300s. In lists prior to this, the largest cities were generally in Spain and Italy, however, as time progressed, the largest populations could be found more often in Italy and France. The year 1500 is around the beginning of what we now consider modern history, a time that saw the birth of many European empires and inter-continental globalization.

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.

The city of Paris in France had an estimated gross domestic product of 757.6 billion Euros in 2021, the most of any European city. Paris was followed by the spanish capital, Madrid, which had a GDP of 237.5 billion Euros, and the Irish capital, Dublin at 230 billion Euros. Milan, in the prosperous north of Italy, had a GDP of 228.4 billion Euros, 65 billion euros larger than the Italian capital Rome, and was the largest non-capital city in terms of GDP in Europe. The engine of Europe Among European countries, Germany had by far the largest economy, with a gross domestic product of over 4.18 trillion Euros. The United Kingdom or France have been Europe's second largest economy since the 1980s, depending on the year, with forecasts suggesting France will overtake the UK going into the 2020s. Germany however, has been the biggest European economy for some time, with five cities (Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Frankfurt) among the 15 largest European cities by GDP. Europe's largest cities In 2023, Moscow was the largest european city, with a population of nearly 12.7 million. Paris was the largest city in western Europe, with a population of over 11 million, while London was Europe's third-largest city at 9.6 million inhabitants.

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.

The largest Western European city in 1200 was Palermo, with 150 thousand inhabitants. This is a great decrease in the number 150 years previously, where the population was 350 thousand. The city of Cordova also decreased by almost 400 thousand in this time, possibly because of the declining Arabian control and influence in the area. Seville is the third largest city on this list, although it's overall population decreased by ten thousand since 1050. The largest cities are generally in Spain or Italy, although the second largest city on this list is Paris, with 110 thousand inhabitants. In the lists that follow, Paris remains at the top as either the largest (1500 and 1650) or second largest (1330 and 1800) city in Western Europe.

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Milan, Bologna, Genoa, Florence, and Turin recorded a population increase between 2022 and 2023. In fact, all the other largest municipalities registered a decrease, most prominently in the south and on the islands. However, Naples is the third-largest Italian municipality, after Rome and Milan.

In 2024, the municipality of Venice collects 30 percent of the total population of the community. This causes an evident disproportion in the distribution of the citizens between the main urban area and the smaller peripheral centers. In fact, the inhabitants of Chioggia, the second-largest municipality, represented only six percent compared to the 835,405 residents of the metropolitan area. The city is often called the “Little Venice”, as its historical center is located in the Venetian lagoon and built on several small islands. San Donà di Piave and Mira host around 40,000 inhabitants, while other municipalities are well below 30,000 residents. Hence, the majority of the metropolitan city consists of middle- and small-sized towns.

This statistic depicts the number of smart city projects carried out in selected Italian cities as of 2018. According to data, the city with the largest number of projects was Milan (43 projects), followed by the North Italian city of Genoa, with 36. Padua ranked third with 33 projects.

In 2024, Russia had the largest population among European countries at ***** million people. The next largest countries in terms of their population size were Turkey at **** million, Germany at **** million, the United Kingdom at **** million, and France at **** million. Europe is also home to some of the world’s smallest countries, such as the microstates of Liechtenstein and San Marino, with populations of ****** and ****** respectively. Europe’s largest economies Germany was Europe’s largest economy in 2023, with a Gross Domestic Product of around *** trillion Euros, while the UK and France are the second and third largest economies, at *** trillion and *** trillion euros respectively. Prior to the mid-2000s, Europe’s fourth-largest economy, Italy, had an economy that was of a similar sized to France and the UK, before diverging growth patterns saw the UK and France become far larger economies than Italy. Moscow and Istanbul the megacities of Europe Two cities on the eastern borders of Europe were Europe’s largest in 2023. The Turkish city of Istanbul, with a population of 15.8 million, and the Russian capital, Moscow, with a population of 12.7 million. Istanbul is arguably the world’s most famous transcontinental city with territory in both Europe and Asia and has been an important center for commerce and culture for over 2,000 years. Paris was the third largest European city with a population of ** million, with London being the fourth largest at *** million.

Rome was the Italian municipality recording the highest number of overnight stays in travel accommodation establishments in 2023. That year, tourist overnight stays in Rome exceeded 37 million, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. Venice and Milan followed in the ranking in 2023, with around 12.6 million and 12.5 million overnight stays, respectively.

Rome, Milan, and Naples are Italy's major urban areas, respectively in the Center, North, and South of the country. In 2021, Rome had an urban area of about 4.3 million people, followed by Milan with 3.1 million and Naples with 2.2 million. In terms of population density, however, Naples is the most densely populated Italian city.

As of January 2025, about 59 million people lived in Italy. Around 29 million individuals were males and 30 million people were females. The most populated area of the country was the north-west, where 15.9 million people lived. Furthermore, the southern regions counted 13.4 million inhabitants, representing the second most populous area of the country. Regional census The northern region of Lombardy is the most populous region of Italy. One-sixth of all the Italian population is concentrated in this area. Lazio and Campania follow with approximately 5.7 million and 5.6 million individuals, respectively. On the other hand, Aosta Valley, a northern region bordering to France and Switzerland, counted 123,000 inhabitants, representing the smallest region of Italy in terms of residents as well as area. More and more Italians are moving abroad In recent years, the number of Italians reported living abroad increased. In 2022, 5.8 million people lived outside Italy, almost three million more than in 2006. The country hosting the largest Italian population is Argentina, while other large Italian communities reside in Germany, Switzerland, and Brazil.

The Italian city of Venice was one of the largest cities in medieval and Renaissance era Europe. It was the center of the Republic of Venice, a maritime empire in the Mediterranean, and had one of Europe's largest ports for exotic goods (particularly from Asia), or luxury goods such as glassware. Impact of plague While its population was relatively small by modern standards, it is believed that Venice was among the five most populous cities in Western Europe in the given years between 1050 and 1650. The city's population did fluctuate over time due to devastating pandemics, and it is believed that Venice was one of the main points of entry for the Black Death in Europe. Venice was one of the hardest-hit cities during the Black Death; estimates fluctuate greatly across sources, but it is believed that the city lost around 40 percent of its population during the initial outbreak in the 1340s. Decline Furthermore, Venice lost roughly a third of its population during further plague pandemics (both introduced via war) in the 1570s and 1630s. Because of this, the population was kept fairly consistent across the given years between 1600 and 1800. The 18th century also saw the decline of the Venetian Empire, as other states gained power and influence in the Mediterranean. Venice also lost its importance as the entry point of exotic goods into Europe, as other European powers had already established their own maritime empires and trade routes across the globe. Eventually, the crumbling Venetian Empire fell to Napoleon in 1796, and its overseas territories were gradually taken by or split among various other powers. While the empire fell, the city itself continued to be a center for art and culture in Europe, and it has maintained this status until today. In 2021, Venice had a population of more than 250,000 people.

Milan had the highest average PM2.5 concentration among Europe's most populated cities in 2021 and 2022, with 19.7 µg/m3. Milan sits in the Po Valley of Northern Italy, which is one of Europe's most polluted regions due to its geographical location and proximity to industrial activities. Poland's capital Warsaw ranked second, with average PM2.5 concentrations of 16.1 µg/m3 based on levels measured in 2021 and 2022. Warsaw is prone to poor air quality due to factors such as burning solid fuels for household heating. Around 97 percent of the European Union's urban population is exposed to PM2.5 concentrations above World Health Organization guidelines.

This statistic illustrates the top ten cities in Italy with the longest bike lane network per capita in 2015. That year, the Italian city with the largest availability of bike lanes was Reggio Emilia, with more than 40 meters of bike network per inhabitant. This was almost double the figure for Mantova and Lodi, which ranked second and third respectively, with about 26.6 meters of cycling paths per inhabitant.

In 2022, the 10Italian cities with the highest yearly average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) were located in the Po Valley, a heavily industrialized, urbanized, and populated area in the north of the country. The mean annual concentration in Monza exceeded the European target value of 25 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3).

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.