(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 16 - The province of Bergamo has come top of il Sole 24 Ore's annual quality of life ranking for the first time, coming in ahead of Trento and Bolzano in the 2024 index, which the financial daily released on Monday.
    It is quite a turnaround for the Lombard province, which came 52nd in 2020 when it was a COVID-19 hotspot.
    It climbed four places with respect to last year to take the top spot.
    As in previous years, the top of the ranking is dominated by northern provinces and southern ones hog the lower end.
    Reggio Calabria was bottom of the 107 provinces while the province of Naples was 106th.
    The big metropolitan cities dropped places.
    Milan fell by four to 12th, Florence slipped by 30 to 36th after three years in the top 10, Turin fell by 22 to 58th and Roma dropped 24 positions to 59th.
    The index ranks the provinces on the basis of 90 indicators split into six categories: wealth and consumer spending; business and work; environment and services; demography, society and health; justice and security; culture and free time. (ANSA).