Fewer home burglaries, fewer robberies, fewer murders. The map of crimes in Italy is changing its appearance and the new ranking of the provinces shows it city by city. This photograph was taken by the latest edition of the Il Sole 24 Ore Crime Index, based on data provided by the Department of Public Security of the Ministry of the Interior, which compares 106 provincial territories, measuring for each one how many complaints are registered per 100 thousand inhabitants.
Scams and computer fraud, however, are on the increase, along with beatings, extortion and arson. Among the cities with the most complaints are Milan (1st in Italy), followed by Florence and Rome. Enna, Potenza and Oristano close the ranking, cities with the lowest number of complaints (but not necessarily considered the safest in Italy).
It must be said, in fact, that these data must be read in context. A high number of complaints does not necessarily indicate greater danger: it may simply reflect a greater propensity of citizens to report. Conversely, cities with few reports may have high hidden crime, where victims do not report due to mistrust in institutions, fear of retaliation or resignation. These data on complaints, therefore, measure the crime that has emerged, not the real crime.
Crimes that decrease and increase: murders, online scams and damage
According to the data, in 2025 there were 289 voluntary homicides, 11.3% less than the previous year. Such a low number, in the historical series starting from the post-war period, was only seen in 2020, when the country was closed at home. Attempted murders also fell below the thousand mark. It is the most eloquent figure in a budget that overall stands at 2.36 million reported crimes, 1.8% less than in 2024. And the trend seems to be strengthening considering that the provisional numbers for the first six months of 2026 mark a drop of close to 10%.
Some crimes decrease but these do not include scams and computer fraud which continue to grow. In fact, for this type of transgression a +4.4% is reported in 2025, reaching 298,651, and a +40% on 2019, equal to an increase of 12,565 cases. Damage, beatings, extortion and fire also increased, with the damage amounting to 288,938 in 12 months, or +3.9% on 2024, an increase of 10,954 cases.
At the same time, thefts, which in 2019 accounted for almost half of all reported crimes, now account for 42%. There is less stealing from homes or parked cars, with a reversal of the trend which marks respectively -8.7% and -16%, and also the b, which decreased by 3.6%. In total, thefts were -62 thousand in one year, falling to 992,600 and returning below one million for the first time since 2022.
According to Marco Dugato, a researcher at the Catholic University, small thefts committed out of necessity are reported less and less and part of the decline could therefore only be apparent. On the contrary, sexual violence settled at around 6,600 per year after a long phase of growth, marking -2.8%.
The cities with the most complaints
The data highlights how almost 50% of crimes are concentrated in the large urban areas of the Center and North and among these, Milan is the first in terms of incidence. The Lombardy capital exceeds 7 thousand crimes per 100 thousand inhabitants, with an increase of 0.6% in 2025. Milan leads the ranking for robberies and thefts, followed by Florence, Rome, Bologna and Turin.
Despite this, cities such as Florence, Rome and Bologna ended the year with fewer complaints than the previous one although they remain at the top of the ranking, while the Lombardy provinces are the ones growing with Lodi +12.1%, Varese +6.2%, Sondrio +5.6%, Mantua +4.7%, Pavia +3.4% and Bergamo +3.1%.
Therefore, as we were saying, Milan confirms itself as the leader in Italy for thefts and robberies, as well as occupying the second place for damage, while Rome leads in complaints related to drug trafficking. Florence follows the Lombard capital in both thefts and robberies and takes the lead in skillful thefts, thefts in shops and robberies on public roads. In terms of voluntary homicides, the national ranking sees Foggia in the lead, followed by Trieste and Lodi. For IT scams, the most affected province is Novara, ahead of Belluno and Trieste.
The provinces with fewer crimes and the decline in the South
Istat has estimated that workers and students bring almost two million more visitors to metropolitan cities every day, not counting tourists. In Milan the daytime population reaches 121% of the resident population, in Rome 115%, in Florence 109%, according to experimental statistics on the insistent population updated to 2023. More people and more nightlife, explains Dugato, mean more opportunities for crime. This also applies to Rimini, where muggings and pickpocketing on buses follow the beach and trade fair flows, as noted by mayor Jamil Sadegholvaad. Furthermore, the province with the strongest increase in Italy, i.e. +15.1% on an annual basis in reported crimes, is Aosta, despite one of the lowest crime rates.
At the other end of the ranking is Oristano, with a rate four times lower than that of Milan, i.e. 1,707 complaints per 100 thousand inhabitants, followed by Potenza, Enna and Benevento. It is in the South that reports decline the most and Sicily leads the trend: eight out of nine provinces close the year with a negative sign and throughout the island crimes remain below 2019 levels. The sharpest drops concern Ragusa (-11.3%), Catania (-10.5%) and Palermo (-9.2%). The provinces of Campania also fell, with Caserta at -4.8% and Naples at -1.6%, while the only ones to move in the opposite direction were Cosenza (+2.3%) and Brindisi (+0.4%).
