Healthcare, infrastructure and employment: Liguria’s priorities

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) “Liguria is, and will continue to be, a region offering a high quality of life.” With this statement, the President of the Liguria Region, Marco Bucci, summarised his vision for the region as well as his political programme for the next four years of his term of office. This programme will rest on the pillars of healthcare, infrastructure and employment, with the aim of ensuring that Liguria increasingly becomes a place where people want to live, work, run businesses, or even spend their leisure time. “Our action plan is progressing very well and will continue to do so in the coming years,” said Bucci in an interview with Radiocor Il Sole 24 Ore.

The president was particularly keen to highlight the institutions’ strong focus on healthcare, given the high proportion of elderly people living in the region. As proof of this, the region is at the forefront nationally in terms of progress on structural investments earmarked for the construction of Community Homes under the PNRR. In fact, 66 per cent of the work has already been completed, and Mr Bucci has announced that all the planned Community Centres will be open by the end of March 2026, so as to provide support and assistance to all citizens, including those living in the most remote areas far from the main hospitals.

The focus also remains on tourism, where, incidentally, excellent results have been recorded. According to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, there were 20,804,965 visitors in 2025, an increase of 3.75 per cent on 2024, with encouraging figures even during the ‘off-peak’ periods and in the inland areas. “Liguria is not just about beach holidays and hiking,” the president pointed out, highlighting the region’s cultural offerings, services and infrastructure.

To create value and jobs, Liguria is banking on the port of Genoa, which, thanks to the construction of a new breakwater, will become one of Europe’s most important hubs. The president also highlighted that ‘the port of Genoa is the gateway to Europe not only for goods and passengers, but also for data transmitted via submarine cables’. Work is expected to be completed in 2028. On the infrastructure front, amongst other things, the region will also receive a boost from the high-speed rail link, which is due to become operational by the end of 2027. “It will bring great benefits, as has been the case in other regions. It will make it possible to live in one city and work in another,” said Bucci.

Nuclear power and technology are other sectors in which the region aims to play a leading role. “We have submitted an official application to host the national nuclear agency, as we possess expertise and skills not found elsewhere in Italia,” emphasised Bucci, who also stated that Genoa aspires to become the site of one of Europe’s Gigafactories dedicated to Artificial Intelligence. After all, it will be able to draw on the Italian Institute of Technology, as well as industrial groups of the calibre of Leonardo-Finmeccanica, Ansaldo and Fincantieri. And on the subject of AI, the region has been designated as the lead partner in the healthcare and tourism sectors of the government’s Reg4Ia project, aimed at implementing Artificial Intelligence in the regions and local authorities. ‘We are very pleased to be part of this important project,’ concluded Bucci, emphasising that new technologies should not be an end in themselves but a means of providing citizens with better services.