This is the 2026 update of our Italian Public Healthcare scoring. The 7,896-town analysis of Italy’s public health system finds a country where the gap between best and worst is wider than between Italy and the United States. Northern Tuscany and the Veneto top the table. Parts of Southern Italy anchor the bottom, but there are areas in the North that show up surprisingly poorly. The story is mostly about which local health authority you happen to live under. (Almost) As Good As Sweden, But Not Everywhere Italy as a whole runs one of the best healthcare systems in the world. The Lancet’s Healthcare Access and Quality Index ranks it ninth globally. The OECD records Italian amenable mortality (deaths that should not occur given timely medical intervention) at roughly two-thirds the OECD average. Italians live longer than almost anyone else on earth. [Map: Italy plays in the top division \u2014 half a step behind the Nordics. Source: OECD, Health at a Glance 2023 and 2025. AMI and stroke 30-day mortality based on unlinked data, OECD-standardised rates. Treatable mortality is age-standardised. Italy ranks #9 globally on the Lancet HAQ Index (2016).] On life expectancy Italy is essentially indistinguishable from the Dutch…<\/p>\n