Air quality comparison · Italy, 426 km apart
Palermo vs Rome Air quality index (AQI) today
Rome has cleaner air than Palermo right now: AQI 24 (Good) against 56 (Moderate).
That puts them in different EPA bands, so the health advice differs today. But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Palermo averaged AQI 41 against 57, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days. Palermo has lost more forest since 2001. Rome has more tree cover.
Updated . Lower is better on the US EPA index: 0–50 is Good, above 300 is Hazardous. Measured by Airleaf.
Palermo56Rome24
Head to head
Palermo vs Rome at a glance
Rome is ahead on 5 of 6 measures, and Palermo on 1. The better figure in each row is marked.
| Palermo | Rome | |
|---|---|---|
| Air quality nowUS AQI. Lower is better. | 56 | 24 (better) |
| PM2.5Fine particles, µg/m³. | 11.2 | 4.3 (better) |
| Past week's averageUS AQI, 7 days. | 41 (better) | 57 |
| Forest lost since 2001Within 10 km of the center. | 465 ha | 38 ha (better) |
| Tree coverWithin 2 km of the center. | 9.9% | 16.2% (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach a healthy canopy. | 49.6K | 43.4K (better) |
Air quality today
What is the air like in Palermo and Rome right now?
Rome has cleaner air than Palermo right now: AQI 24 (Good) against 56 (Moderate). PM2.5 is setting the index in both.
Rome is read from a nearby ground station and Palermo is a model estimate, so the two are not quite like for like.
PalermoRome
Concentrations at the same moment as the index above, for the pollutants both places report. Lower is better. The dark marks on the PM2.5 and PM10 rows show the WHO's 24-hour guidelines (15 and 45 µg/m³).
Palermo: Model estimate · no ground station nearby. Data: Open-Meteo / CAMS, US EPA index.
Rome: Ground station · NASA GSFC Rutgers Calib. N11, 1.1 km away · median of 2 stations. Data: OpenAQ · AirGradient, Clarity, W.
The past week
Which had cleaner air over the past 7 days?
But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Palermo averaged AQI 41 against 57, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days. A single reading can catch a city on a bad afternoon; the week says whether it was the weather or the place.
- Cleaner days
- Palermo5Rome2
- Average AQI
- Palermo41Rome57
- Worst day, AQI
- Palermo56Rome71
The daily numbers (7 days)
| Day | Palermo | Rome |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 5 | 42 | 68 |
| Nov 6 | 43 | 60 |
| Nov 7 | 30 | 51 |
| Nov 8 | 34 | 71 |
| Nov 9 | 39 | 60 |
| Nov 10 | 46 | 44 |
| Nov 11 | 56 | 48 |
Daily averages from the CAMS atmospheric model for both places, so the week compares like with like. They can differ from today's reading at the top of the page wherever that comes from a ground station.
What it means today
Is it safe to go outside in Palermo and Rome today?
Palermo (AQI 56, Moderate): Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion.
Rome (AQI 24, Good): Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Exercise outdoors
- Palermo
- Fine for most people; unusually sensitive people should take long or hard exercise easier.
- Rome
- A good day to be active outside.
Windows
- Palermo
- Fine to open; close them if you are sensitive to pollution.
- Rome
- Open them to air the house.
Masks
- Palermo
- Not needed for most people.
- Rome
- Not needed.
Air purifier
- Palermo
- Worth running if you are sensitive.
- Rome
- Not needed.
Against everywhere else
How do Palermo and Rome compare with the rest of the world?
Right now Palermo's air is cleaner than 52% of the 5,420 places Airleaf tracks, and Rome's is cleaner than 85%. Within Italy, that is 58% and 86% of its 44 measured places.
Cleaner air than…
- Palermo
- Beats 52%
- Rome
- Beats 85%
More tree cover than…
- Palermo
- Beats 21%
- Rome
- Beats 37%
Includes model estimates as well as station readings, so it can differ from our most polluted and cleanest air rankings, which use station readings only.
Deforestation · 2001–2025
Which has lost more forest, Palermo or Rome?
Palermo has lost more: about 465 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 38 ha around Rome. 134 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Measured within 10 km of each center, from the yearly satellite maps of forest loss: a wider circle than the one for tree cover, because forest is usually lost at a city's edges.
Worst year: 2023, with 77 ha lost.
Worst year: 2022, with 9 ha lost.
| Palermo | Rome | |
|---|---|---|
| Forest lost since 2001Cleared, burned or logged. | 465 ha | 38 ha (better) |
| Share of its forestOf what it had in 2000. | 11% | 3.1% (better) |
| Cleared for goodTurned into farms, mines or towns. | 134 ha | 21 ha (better) |
| Recent trend2021–2025 against the five years before. | Too little to call | Too little to call |
| Main known cause | Wildfires (66%) | Towns and roads (56%) |
Satellite timelapses
Watch both change, year by year
A clear satellite photo a year of the land around each city. Press play, turn on the forest cleared since the first year, or drag the before and after.
Palermo
2017: satellite photo from July 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area about 6 km northwest of the city center.
Rome
2017: satellite photo from August 2017 of a 5 × 5 km area in the city center.
Trees
Which has more trees, Palermo or Rome?
Rome has more tree cover: 16.2% of the land within 2 km of its center against 9.9% around Palermo, or about 50,894 trees against 24,446.
The dark mark is each place's canopy target: 30% of the land, raised where air quality is poor.
| Palermo | Rome | |
|---|---|---|
| Trees standingEstimated from the canopy area. | 24.4K | 50.9K (better) |
| Trees still neededTo reach the target. Fewer is better. | 49.6K | 43.4K (better) |
| CO₂ absorbed each yearBy the trees already standing. | 538K kg | 1.1M kg (better) |
Tree cover on the satellite image
The same 2 km radius around each center, with the tree cover the satellite found marked on it.
Reading these numbers
How this comparison is made
Air quality index
The US EPA index, computed from current pollutant concentrations: ground stations where a place has them nearby, and the CAMS atmospheric model everywhere else. It moves hour to hour, so it is a snapshot rather than a verdict on either place. The guideline marks are from the WHO's 2021 air quality guidelines.
Trees and forest
Tree cover is the share of ground under canopy within 2 km of each center, read from Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail. It measures that circle, not the whole municipality, which is what makes the two comparable. Forest loss comes from the University of Maryland's Global Forest Change maps.
More on the method on the About Airleaf page.
Frequently asked
Palermo vs Rome: your questions answered
Is Rome cleaner than Palermo?
On air quality, yes, right now: Rome reads AQI 24 against 56, a gap of 32 points on the US EPA index. This is a live reading rather than an annual average, so it can reverse within a day. But over the past 7 days, on modeled daily averages, Palermo averaged AQI 41 against 57, and it was the cleaner of the two on 5 of those days.
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Palermo and Rome today?
In Palermo, at AQI 56: Unusually sensitive people should consider limiting long outdoor exertion. In Rome, at AQI 24: Air quality is satisfactory for everyone.
Which has lost more forest, Palermo or Rome?
Palermo has lost more: about 465 ha of forest within 10 km of its center from 2001 to 2025, against 38 ha around Rome. 134 ha of that was cleared for good, for farms, mines or towns.
Which has more trees, Palermo or Rome?
Rome has more tree cover: 16.2% of the land within 2 km of its center against 9.9% around Palermo, or about 50,894 trees against 24,446. Both figures describe the same-sized circle of ground around each center, not the whole municipality.
How many more trees do Palermo and Rome need?
Palermo needs about 49,633 more to reach its canopy target of 30%, and Rome about 43,354 to reach 30%. The target starts at 30% of the land and rises where air quality is poor.
Are Palermo and Rome measured the same way?
The method is the same: the US EPA index for air, and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at 10 m detail over an identical radius for trees. Rome is read from a nearby ground station and Palermo is a model estimate, so the two are not quite like for like. Nothing is adjusted for population, city limits or climate.
How often does the Palermo vs Rome comparison update?
The air readings refresh about once an hour, and each reading's local time is shown at the top of the page. Tree cover comes from the latest clear satellite image of each area (Sep 18, 2026 and Sep 16, 2026), and the forest figures are published yearly.
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