NUTS-3 ITH51 · Italy
Population
286,4522025
GDP
€11,470M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
2,585.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ITH51 · ITC43
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Lecco (Opportunity 61). Runner-up: Piacenza (58). Contrarian pick: Piacenza — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 94).
#1Lecco
Strengths
Industrial base (94) · Economic base (73)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 25 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
#2Piacenza
Strengths
Freight intensity (94) · Demographic outlook (83)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Lecco
Long-run slide: down 25 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 20) — Piacenza may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Lecco leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
58.3
60.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
49.5
39.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
52.3
50.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
36.7
55.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
34.3
29.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
45.0
42.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.3% 5y
2.8% 5y
Population
0.0% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
6.7% 5y
11.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€40,042
€38,530
Population density
111 /km²
414 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 87 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€10,304M
€11,552M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€289M
€103M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,698M
€4,197M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,392M
€4,050M
GVA — construction (F)
€534M
€686M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,528M
€1,992M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,400
€26,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
41,800 PPS
40,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€40,300
€38,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€45,497M
€101,220M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€12,104M
€19,922M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€74,553M
€188,904M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,244M
€1,410M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€174M
€148M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,619M
€3,145M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,634M
€1,429M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€10,375M
€11,709M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€85,934
€92,895
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,727M
€2,694M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
137,500
142,600
Self-employed persons
30,400
33,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
25,700
45,100
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.5%
71.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
17.4%
10.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.1%
2.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
137,200
153,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
22,627
26,253
Enterprise births
1,575
1,794
Enterprise deaths
1,294
1,539
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.5%
3.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.1%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.8%
5.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.1%
1.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
25.3%
23.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
36.2%
34.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.1%
11.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.2%
18.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.3%
5.2%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.2%
96.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
638,027
1,543,508
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
691 /1k
640 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
12
28
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,810 kt
7,726 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
4
8
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
31 km/1000km²
32 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
74
36
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
179,280
208,574
Population aged 65+
72,950
85,700
Population aged under 15
34,222
39,473
Median age of population
49.5 yrs
49.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.7%
41.1%
Crude rate of total population change
3.7 /1k
1.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.1 /1k
5.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.7 /1k
6.1 /1k
Crude death rate
12.0 /1k
10.3 /1k
Live births
1,909
2,050
Deaths
3,437
3,443
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.8%
60.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.28
1.23
Population density (persons per km²)
112 /km²
453 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
307,446
282,875
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
8.2%
12.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.3 yrs
84.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
6.7%
9.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
369 /100k
322 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
860 /100k
835 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
212 /100k
222 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.3 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
32.0 /100k
32.7 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,238 /100k
772 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
61 /M
38 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.72
0.72
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.60
0.60
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.57
0.57
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.57
0.57
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.41
0.41
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.159/kWh
€0.159/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
474 m
1,355 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
17 days/yr
0 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
41 days/yr
134 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
14 days/yr
25 days/yr