Investing in Treviso and Belluno: the attractions offered by the area

Article by Dr, Renato Chahinian

In the previous articles of this column, we spoke of the general reasons for the attraction of the two provinces of Treviso and Belluno, and of the fact that nowadays investing in their territory is especially important if one can have sustainable development as a strategic objective, in order to aim for a simultaneous advantage, both for the investor himself and for the community in which he is going to operate.
It was also made clear that the benefit itself, to be meaningful and lasting for all, must include the three aspects of development: economic, social and environmental. If one of the three is missing or if the focus is too unbalanced towards one to the detriment of the other two, the long-term results will be modest or the negative impacts will end up outweighing the positive ones.
With these considerations in mind, let us then attempt to briefly analyse the territorial context we are dealing with, in order to identify its main economic, social and environmental characteristics that can act as reasons for attracting foreign investment (but also for new investment by local operators).

Analysis of the provinces of Treviso and Belluno
In order to identify the main characteristics of the two territories from the aforementioned three-dimensional point of view, reference can be made in particular to two surveys that are carried out annually on the basis of suitably processed updated data. These analyses highlight the specific characteristics of all the Italian provinces, in order to make appropriate comparisons between different territories and to assess the level of the phenomena identified and the significance of the data presented.
The first analysis is that of Il Sole 24 Ore, called Qualità della Vita (Quality of Life), the latest edition of which was published on 4 December, based on the latest available data, mostly referring to 2022. In that survey, six rankings are formed per province (based on 15 predefined indicators for each ranking) and, subsequently (by processing the scores of each), a final ranking is arrived at that expresses the definitive quality of life score for each province.
The second analysis instead concerns the ASviS Report (Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development) , which annually publishes, in addition to national data, a special dossier entitled I territori e gli obiettivi di sviluppo sostenibile (The territories and the sustainable development objectives) with regional in-depth analyses and with various indicators also at provincial level. Also for this analysis, the latest edition refers to 2023 (mostly based on data from 2022), but here the indicators aim to highlight the performance of the territories in relation to the degree of achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN for the 2030 Agenda at planetary level.
In order to better highlight the indicators and relative evaluations that can represent the attractiveness and opportunities for new investments in the two provinces under consideration, we report the main data of both analyses, starting with the first one in this article and postponing the second one to the next issue.

The general ranking of the quality of life in Treviso and Belluno
The general ranking of the quality of life, according to the 2023 analysis of Il Sole 24 Ore, sees the province of Treviso in 20th place and that of Belluno in 44th, out of the total 107 Italian provinces. It is, therefore, a good positioning for both territories, due to the fact that they are placed in the first part of the ranking and therefore enjoy a standard of living higher than the national average, i.e. closer to the best European countries.
Obviously, the final score (and thus the overall ranking) derives from the average of many different indicators, divided into six general areas, which, in turn, identify a particular ranking of each territory. Of course, it must be considered that all rankings depend on the choice of basic indicators and, given the complexity of the “quality of life” phenomenon, it is not certain that there cannot be other indicators that shift the detected ranking for the better or for the worse. However, the importance and significance of the measurements chosen offer a substantially adequate general assessment of the well-being present in each territory.
However, it must also be taken into account that these are actual surveys, which indicate the current situation, determined by past factors, and not the present potential, which will instead produce its effects in the future (obviously with new investments, as will be seen later).
Continuing with the analysis, we can observe the following positioning of the provinces under examination in the 6 general areas:

1. Wealth and consumption: Belluno 8^ – Treviso 24^;
2. Business and work: Treviso 34^ – Belluno 51^;
3. Demography, society and health: Treviso 33^ – Belluno 104^;
4. Environment and services: Treviso 20^ – Belluno 37^;
5. Justice and safety: Belluno 5^ – Treviso 8^;
6. Culture and leisure: Treviso 48^ – Belluno 62^.

As is evident, both territories stand out for the wealth and related consumption of their populations, as well as for the high degree of justice and security the inhabitants actually enjoy, while they also rank well in the environmental indicators. Mediocre, on the other hand, appears to be the situation in the Business and Work category, and decidedly negative for Belluno is its ranking in the Demography, Society and Health category.
Here too, however, the results derive from the average of many different indicators and therefore explanations of performance (both positive and negative) must be assessed in the light of the particular indices. The fact remains that in each of these areas Treviso is always above the national average and Belluno is slightly below only for culture and leisure, while the latter’s serious deficiency occurs essentially in the demographic aspects.

Excellence and difficulties in Treviso and Belluno
At this point, to better understand the situation of the quality of life in Treviso and Belluno, it is appropriate to go into the individual rankings of the particular indicators, in which the first 5 and the last 5 places are reported for each, with the relative value to appreciate their consistency.
As far as Wealth and Consumption is concerned, only excellencies are identified, namely in the following indicators:

1. Bank deposits of consumer households: 4th Belluno with 29.4 thousand euro per household;
2. Families with low ISEE: 2nd Belluno with 16.3% ISEE less than 7,000 euro on total ISEE households – 5th Treviso with 19.3%;
3. Citizenship income recipients: 2nd Belluno with 9.1 people per 1,000 inhabitants – 3rd Treviso with 13.7;
4. Invoice payments over 30 days: 5th Belluno with 4.8% of suppliers’ commercial invoices;
5. Protests per capita: 4th Belluno with 0.3 euro per year.

As is evident, there is a lot of excellence, especially for Belluno. This shows that there are few poor people, there is a considerable share of savings in households that goes into bank deposits (which mainly finance businesses), and these businesses behave correctly in business and do not create significant insolvencies.
The second category, Business and work, presents only one very negative position in the specific indicators, which concerns Belluno’s 103rd position with 253.1 pensioners per 1,000 inhabitants, a result certainly linked to the ageing of the province’s population, due to the well-known causes of the depopulation of the mountains by the younger classes.
The Demography, Society and Health sector sees, on the one hand, Treviso’s national supremacy in life expectancy at birth with 84.1 years; on the other, Belluno’s last place for active general practitioners, with 0.51 per 1,000 inhabitants. While the first indicator is very flattering for our province, the second is truly worrying, and the health system must urgently remedy this.
The Environment and services sector shows an excellent urban ecosystem in the province of Treviso (4th place) and, on the contrary, a very bad accessibility of schools for Belluno (last place with only 18% of easily accessible schools). Clearly, the territorial factor benefits the urban and suburban facilities of the former province and does not, on the other hand, offer sufficient accessibility to the school system in the latter.
The situation of the Justice and Security sector is certainly the best with the following excellent results (per 100,000 inhabitants):

1. Crime index: 5th Treviso with 2,260 total crime reports;
2. Car thefts: 2nd Belluno with 8.6 reports;
3. Burglaries: 4th Belluno with 1.52 denunciations;
4. Drug-related crimes: 5th Treviso with 22.4 denunciations;
5. Computer crimes: 1st Treviso with 14,5 denunciations;
6. Litigiousness index: 3rd Belluno with 1,188.3 registered cases.

These are all situations that, due to their low intensity, give certainty and security to those who live and work in these two provinces, favouring economic activities and quality of life.
For the last area of indicators (Culture and leisure) with very different contents, one can note:

1. the unexpected penultimate place of Treviso on the number of bookshops: 3.65 per 100,000 inhabitants;
2. the 5th place of Belluno in the reading index: 24.0 copies of newspapers, monthlies and periodicals per 100 inhabitants;
3. Belluno’s last place in the climate index (based on 10 climatic parameters not indicated in detail).

For these aspects, with the exception of the favourable reading index, the circumstances are not clear.

Investing to improve the economic, social and environmental environment
From the very diversified (and overall positive) situation of the two territories, it is useful to recall some characteristics suitable for sustainable investment, in order to define possible areas of intervention.
First of all, it can be observed that the economic context, represented by the first two general areas, is favourable, as there is a satisfactory level of wealth and consumption, while business is conducted fairly and without excessive risk exposure. This facilitates the initiation of new investments and assumes their success in terms of both efficiency and effectiveness.
As far as sustainability is concerned, there are many favourable indicators, especially in the social aspects (life expectancy and safety), which are further reasons for a satisfactory outcome of sustainable investments, while some shortcomings in the environmental field derive above all from the dispersion of the territory in the province of Belluno, which is more prone to adverse climatic phenomena, with negative consequences in the social sphere as well.
But if we look at it from the point of view of a new investment, we can see that, while on the one hand favourable elements will facilitate its realisation, on the other hand the so-called negative externalities denounce precisely the need for new initiatives to be reduced or eliminated. Thus, there are opportunities to improve the already positive indicators, but even more (and urgently) investments are required to make up for the environmental shortcomings. In view of this, it can be deduced that:

1. Treviso needs even more investments for the ecological transition of production processes, whose value, already very competitive from an economic and market point of view, could further increase by offering new quality factors from the point of view of environmental healthiness and emissions decarbonisation;
2. Belluno needs even more investment for adaptation to climate change and for the birth of new enterprises linked not only to environmental infrastructure works, but also to the renewed exercise of traditional activities with innovative methods (such as forestation, livestock breeding, precision agriculture, and others), which, precisely because of the current shortage, represent greater opportunities for future development, both in quantity and in their value (economic, social and environmental).

While many of these initiatives are certainly dependent on the availability of public funding, ample space can also be created for public-private partnerships (PPP), and many other actions can derive from exclusively private investments, even by foreign operators, facilitated by a social context that, for the various aspects analysed, is particularly industrious and collaborative.
These latter considerations will also be explored in subsequent articles.