UK tourists in Italy warned over city which is 'impossible' to live in

James Rodger

16 June 2024 at 10:54 am·2-min read

UK tourists in Italy have been warned over a city which is "impossible" to live in. Palermo, the capital of Sicily, officially had the least happy residents in Europe, according to a new happiness index based on different European Union cities.

The study found just 62 per cent of people reported being satisifed with life in Palermo and only four per cent felt it was possible to get a good job in the city. People also felt the city was too noisy while just six per cent felt it was clean.

Despite this, the coastal city is an extremely popular holiday destination. The EU Commission asked residents in 83 cities across Europe a series of questions about their quality of life, with Palermo coming bottom of the ranking.

Zurich is officially the best place in Europe to live and 97 per cent of residents felt happy living there. The city's residents were happy with their jobs, public transport, healthcare and air quality. It wasn't completely perfect though as the majority of people felt it was hard to find housing at an affordable price.

Replying to the ranking, one said: "I'm surprised Vienna isn't on the list. One of the city council's proud claims is that, "In Vienna, it is impossible to discern a person's income from their address."" The rest of the top five included Groningen as well as Gdansk, Leipzig and Copenhagen.

"I have never lived in Vienna but visited it twice: once in 1972 as a 19 year old. Loved it. Beautiful city. Nice neighborhoods, great architecture, clean, nice people. More recently, around 2018 I hated it. Overrun with tourists, hectic, overpopulated with high end stores whose windows befaul the beautiful architecture of the buildings behind them," a second said.

The rest of the bottom five were Naples, Athens and Istanbul, alongside Tirana in Albania.

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