Although Italy is one of the most visited countries in the world, there is one city that tourists are being urged to stay away from after it was named “impossible” to inhabit.
According to a Happiness Index surveying a number of European Union cities, Palermo, Sicily’s capital, has the unhappiest residents in Europe.
Out of those who took part in the research, only 62% of people were content with life in the city, and a shocking 4% believed it was possible to get a good job in the city.
The research also found that residents say that the city is too loud, and only 6% of respondents thought it was clean.
With all this information, you’d think tourists would avoid a place like this, but the reality of that couldn’t be more different. The coastal destination is still a popular choice among travellers.
Trip Advisor even warns tourists that Palermo is “a noisy, polluted, often dangerous” place. Users on the site also give it an average review of two stars out of five.
One review said: “Save your money and your time ….. disorganised, poor quality.
Of the city, they added: “Give this a giant miss”
Yet, following the EU Commission’s request for a series of quality-of-life questions from residents in 83 European cities, Palermo ranked last.
At the top of the list, Zurich in Switzerland was named the most desirable place to live in Europe, with the majority of residents sharing that they were satisfied with their lives in the city. Employment, public transport, healthcare and air quality were the features.
But of course, as with most things in life, the happiest city did have its downsides. Most people expressed that they found it difficult to find affordable housing.
In a response to the ranking, one person said: “I’m surprised Vienna isn’t on the list. One of the city council’s proud claim is that ‘In Vienna, it is impossible to discern a person’s income from their address.”’
The other cities among the top five included Groningen, Gdansk, Leipzig and Copenhagen.
Another added: “I have never lived in Vienna but visited twice: once in 1972 as a 19-year-old. Loved it. Beautiful city. Nice neighbourhoods, 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.”
Naples, Athens, Instanbul and Tirana were the additional cities that made up the bottom five.
