Trento and Milan: the regular and the outsider on the podium of the most sporty provinces

A province that consistently makes sport a hallmark and wins yet another gold medal. Trento takes the lead once again, and once again its affirmation does not depend on football, a discipline in which the territory does not stand out. And this," comments Alberto Miglietta, equity partner of Pts, the company that authored the research, "further proves the relevance of the Sportsmanship Index, which gives football the importance it deserves but ends up rewarding a territory that is able to enhance all the other disciplines practised there, thanks to a high level of planning. "Trento is synonymous with continuity, always in the top positions of the Index. The 2025 pink jersey, won by a wide margin, brings the total number of victories to eight (out of 19 research editions).

'A positive series,' observes Mario Diani, lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Social Research at the local university, 'which stems from several factors. First of all, we live in a high-income area, with high-quality public and private resources, but this is not enough. There is a sensitivity of local administrations towards the construction of facilities (hence the successes also in 'indoor' sports such as basketball and volleyball, ed.) and a very strong associative fabric in all fields, which as far as sport is concerned does not only aim at top-level performance. Let's add the attention of civil society and the business world, without forgetting the traditional strengths linked to activities in contact with nature'.

In the rankings by macro-areas, Trento is first in Sports and Societies and in Individual Sports, where the stars of Nadia Battocletti (on the podium at the recently concluded World Athletics Championships, as well as last year at the Paris Olympics) and Ruggero Tita, a sailor from the Upper Garda basin, twice Olympic gold medalist, in 2021 and 2024, shine. Among the specialities with greater tradition is cycling. From the Moser brothers to Maurizio Fondriest, from Gilberto Simoni to Matteo Trentin, 36, the doyen of active professional cyclists born in the province. A winner of important races, as well as European champion in 2018 and vice-world champion in 2019. "I think,' he says, 'that our sport benefits from all the open spaces available, from the fact that cycling is part of a child's normal day, from the network of cycle paths that puts Trentino on a par with Northern European countries. Facilities available to everyone, including visitors who seek and find many forms of active tourism'.

Next year, while Val di Fiemme will host the Olympic competitions in cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined, Simone Deromedis, the 2023 World Champion in ski cross, with a second place in the 2025 World Cup and a fifth at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, will compete in Livigno. Deromedis is from Taio. We are in Val di Non, with 40,000 inhabitants and a host of sportsmen and women who express themselves at the highest levels: middle-distance runner Nadia Battocletti is from Cavareno; for cycling there is Letizia Paternoster (from Revò) and Gianni Moscon (from Livo); Alpine skiing specialist is Luca De Aliprandini, from Tuenno, while Andrea Pinamonti, a Serie A centre forward, comes from Tassullo. "I don't know if there is something special in the water in our area,' jokes Deromedis. 'But one thing is certain: in Val di Non, from an early age, you can practise many sports and in the variety you can find what you excel at. Simple, no?

For the first time on the podium of sportsmanship. In the year leading up to the great event of the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, Milan continues on a path of growth that has seen it in the top ten of the Pts survey uninterruptedly for four editions: eighth in 2022, fifth in both 2023 and 2024, and now third. Bologna is fifth, Genoa sixth, and Turin eighth. In the area rankings, Lombardy's capital - which, by the way, regains its regional supremacy after 15 years - is 18th and 19th respectively for the area's Sports Structure and Individual Sports.Even behind these results, which are good but not excellent, there are some peaks. First of all, Milan surpasses Rome and ranks first in terms of the sports practicability rate.