Ninety rural Italian municipalities have earned the prestigious “Spighe Verdi” (Green Ears) recognition for 2025, a significant increase from the 75 awarded last year. This year sees 17 new entries, while two towns were not reconfirmed.
The results were announced at the tenth edition of the national program run by Fee Italia (Foundation for Environmental Education), the organization behind the globally recognized Blue Flag awards for coastal areas. The Spighe Verdi program guides rural municipalities towards environmental best practices and improved quality of life.
Fee Italia, in partnership with Confagricoltura, developed the evaluation framework. It uses 67 specific indicators grouped into 16 macro-areas to assess local land management policies and steer them towards stringent sustainability criteria.
The 2025 awards were presented during a ceremony at Italy’s National Research Council (CNR), attended by winning mayors. Winning towns span 15 regions:
Piedmont leads with 18 Spighe Verdi.
Calabria follows with 10.
Marche has 9.
Tuscany, Umbria, and Puglia share fourth place with 8 each.
Campania secured 7.
Lazio has 5.
Sicily and Abruzzo each have 3.
Veneto, Basilicata, and Lombardy each have 2.
Emilia-Romagna has 1.
The municipalities not reconfirmed for 2025 are Pontinia in Lazio and Acquasparta in Umbria.
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