Italy’s City of Bicycles Is Falling Apart

Discover how Ferrara, one of Italy’s most iconic cycling cities, famed for its Renaissance urban planning, is grappling with a modern problem: too many cars. From illegal parking on historic streets to outdated infrastructure, we dive into why this UNESCO World Heritage site is struggling to live up to its “City of Bicycles” title. Explore the clash between tradition and today’s car-first reality, the challenges of sustainable urban mobility, and what it’ll take to reclaim streets for people, not vehicles.

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Music Attributions:
Track: Hit Me Up Again by Summer Heart
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Tracks: After The Storm, Genesis, Two Sides, Horizon, We Will Meet Again, Bloom by Ptr.
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:39 Data and SUMP
10:20 Urban spaces and walkability
18:43 Public transit
22:39 Cycling
26:41 Conclusions

All statements, opinions, and content presented in the video, including references to individuals, groups, or entities, are solely my own and reflect my personal views, with no affiliations or endorsements from any mentioned parties.

Credits:
Palazzo Prosperi Sacrati, Sergio Spolti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Prosperi-Sacrati#/media/File:Palazzo_Prosperi_Sacrati_(Ferrara).jpg
Addizione Erculea – Quartieri nobiliari in Italia fra tardo medioevo e prima età moderna, Marco Folin
https://books.openedition.org/psorbonne/3273
Progetto della cosiddetta “metropolitana di superficie”, Arbalete https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrovia_Ferrara-Codigoro#/media/File:Progetto_servizio_ferroviario_metropolitano_di_Ferrara.svg

What you’re
looking at right now is a street in Ferrara,
a mid-sized city in the Italian region
of Emilia-Romagna. This is a city that hosts
one of the most fascinating works
of the Italian Renaissance, and was once referred to
as the ideal city. This very street was part
of the innovative urban plan known
as the Addizione Erculea. Designed by the urbanist
Biagio Rossetti in the late 1400s, a human scaled street
layout that earned Ferrara the title of the first modern
European city, one that inspired urban
planning across the world in building the cities of the
future as we know them today. Ferrara is recognized as
a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Fast forward half
a millennium, and in 2025, many local associations
and civic groups are raising concerns
about one of the most frustrating issues
in this very street and in other parts of the city
center, a behavior
all too common across Italy. Illegal car parking. Ferrara
also happens to be the first in Italy,
and one of the first in Europe to have achieved the highest rate of bicycle
use for urban trips back in the 90s. With a background like that, you’d expect strong policies
focused on road safety and people
first approach, right? Yet somehow it feels like
Ferrara has gone from being a model of urban
planning to a place that today has very little left to teach,
and a lot to catch up on. Ferrara has a
long history of urban cycling. It’s often referred to as “Città delle Biciclette”
or “the City of Bicycles”, a title proudly represented
by the iconic bike shaped sculpture located about one kilometer
from the highway exit. This nickname is deeply rooted
in the city’s history and culture. Residents
use bicycles daily, learning to ride from a young age. For anyone
born and raised here knowing how to ride a bike is as essential
as knowing how to drive. Historical data confirms
this cycling tradition. According to the city’s
official bike focused website, as early as 1991, 30.7% of Ferrara residents
used bicycles for local trips. Slightly more than Copenhagen,
which reported 30% at the time. That level of usage
led to city, starting in 1995 to develop numerous projects
and initiatives aimed at improving
and increasing bicycle use. Even today, about 90%
of residents own one bicycle. You can see the results
of this legacy just by walking
around the city, whether in the historic center
or in the outskirts, people on bikes, parked bikes
everywhere. It’s clear
that cycling has long been a key part of daily life
here, and it’s just as clear that the city is heavily
invested in this mode of transportation
over the decades. But this is where tradition,
historical data and branding start to collide
with the reality of today. Or more precisely,
the lack of current data. Despite its cycling heritage,
Ferrara has been steadily becoming a car first city
not a people first one. A key moment in reshaping urban mobility
in Italy came in 2017, when national law required
all municipalities with more than 100,000
inhabitants to develop and adopt a SUMP, sustainable
urban mobility plan. This later became mandatory
for access to both national and European funding for sustainable transport
projects. It marked a fundamental shift
in thinking from the old approach, focused on vehicular
traffic flow optimization, to the new approach centered
on people, not vehicles. Ferrara developed its own
SUMP in 2019. The crucial point of SUMPs
is that, starting from a specific modal share for all trips
within the city, you then need to set targets
for short, medium and long term. And that’s when Ferrara’s plan
starts to look strange. Ferrara used modal
share data from 2011 and didn’t bother to conduct
a more up to date survey. The first thing I noticed is that biking only accounts
for about one quarter of trips, which is still lower than the widely claimed 30%
figure found all over the web. Even more shocking is that 60%
share attributed to cars. And this data only covers
systematic trips to school and work. However, today
we know that society, especially after the Covid
pandemic, has deeply changed and also the way people
get around and such systematic trips represent only 30 to 40%
of all daily trips. So that 2011 data cannot
be considered representative. And let’s be clear. Ferrara is not alone in this. The target by 2030 is to keep
10% pedestrian traffic, reach 20% transit use, 30%
cycling and 40% cars. But again, these percentages
refer only to systematic trips,
not overall trips. More data
from 2013 and 2016 exists, but it was not statistically valid
and therefore excluded. However, it’s worth mentioning because those studies included
free time and errand trips. Thus, more closely representing
overall travel patterns. And they showed better results closer to what Ferrara aims
to achieve by 2030. You can imagine my confusion
here. To be fair, the strategies set in the SUMP
aren’t bad at all. And local associations agree. The most revolutionary
proposal is to turn the entire historic center within the medieval walls
into a large, low traffic zone and extend the 30km/h speed
limits to all local roads, not just residential areas,
just like Bologna did. The plan also includes strong traffic calming measures, improvements
to cycling infrastructure and most importantly, a commitment to reduce road
accidents by 2030 with particular attention
to vulnerable users. The long term goal is Vision
Zero. No more road deaths. So, how’s the Implementation
of these changes going? Well, earlier this year,
Ferrara made national news. Apparently, not so well. In 2022,
Italy became the EU country with the highest motorization
rate. And sadly,
Ferrara is part of this trend. According to one 2024 report,
Ferrara’s motorization rate is 67 cars
per 100 inhabitants, absurdly high
compared to other European cycling
cities of similar size, such as Innsbruck in Austria
or Heidelberg in Germany, that both don’t have
a Mediterranean climate, and these cities show
much less car use overall. That’s a massive difference in the number of cars
occupying public space. When it comes to accidents
rate Ferrara is above the national average and is not the safest city
even within its own region. This is not the kind of data
you would expect from a city known for cycling. Getting precise and up to date
data is quite difficult. The SUMP promised monitoring
and reporting every two years. But according
to the local group Ferrara Partecipata
the municipality has not provided
any reports since 2019. Just recently,
the municipality informed the same group
that eight people died in road accidents in 2023,
which is 20% fewer than 2019. However,
looking at the historical data from the national ISTAT
database, similar or better numbers
were seen in earlier years before the SUMP
was even in place and possibly when there were
fewer cars on the streets. Unfortunately, road accidents
and injuries have actually increased
compared to pre-COVID data. Ferrara Partecipata surveyed
the city and found that only 10% of the policies planned
by 2022 have been implemented. Local active communities are vocal and
determined to demand change. The common feeling is that
although the city has more low speed areas and LTZs, the cycling
infrastructure is increasing, there are still too many cars. Speed limits are often
ignored and roads feel less safe
rather than safer. This is not unique in Italy, and it’s the perfect time
to go back to the first modern European
street I mentioned earlier. Corso Ercole I d’Este. Since its design, Rossetti conceived it
as a residential street and thus preserved it
from noise and heavy traffic. There were no shops as today, and the street was not public, but used only by residents,
their guests and servants, ensuring tranquility
for important local figures. What we would call
a Renaissance era LTZ with a touch of exclusive
privilege. Since the early 2000s,
the southern section has been a modern time LTZ with signs that prohibit
parking and stopping. I find it incredible
that the UNESCO World Heritage Site
allows car access, with a major road running right in front of some of the city’s
most important landmarks, like Palazzo Diamanti
and Palazzo Prosperi-Sacrati. In 2017,
following nonstop complaints about illegal parking. The city added no parking
and no stopping signs. Also along the street, but apparently
that didn’t work either. Something’s happening though. Recently, the City Council
approved the transformation of the northern section into an LTZ
with 30 km/h speed limit. Yeah, these streets
are still 50 km/h. The decision came in response
to, again, widespread illegal parking. Naturally,
some people will complain, but this kind of resistance occurred
in other countries too. Just 30 years earlier. So a significant
share of trips in Ferrara is made by bike. But what about walking
and transit? The two modes
now with the lowest shares. Let’s start from the train
station. The front area is far
from inviting. You’re immediately greeted with a car lane
with open access. I can already imagine parents waiting in cars
to pick up someone. Oh wait, I don’t even need to
imagine it. There’s a nearby parking lot
with a few EV charging stations, but it doesn’t function as a proper park
and ride for train users. It’s good
that there are bus stops right
in front of the train station, but when I first arrived,
I was confused. There’s
one of each side of the road and it wasn’t clear
which served which lines. The pedestrian crossing
is long and dangerous. Just some paint on the asphalt
and it intersects with a bike path,
creating inevitable conflict. Of course, people will walk
wherever they can. It’s not like there’s no space
to redesign this plaza. What it really needs
is a full revamp brought up to proper European
standards. They also built a new bike
parking facility near the station some years
ago, and only March 2025, did it get controlled access. It’s essentially a fenced off
area with low quality racks. The gate opens via the app, and it’s free
to use, at least. But for a cycling city, this feels
pretty underwhelming. It was honestly
the most disappointing part of my visit, especially when compared
to places like Brixen with 1/4 of the population,
or Basel in Switzerland. And just to make things
more counterintuitive, to access the bike parking, they decided to move the
pedestrian space on the road. I tried
walking from the train station to the castle via
an alternate route because the most direct one
looked like this. Via della Costituzione
features wide protected bike paths, but have you noticed there’s no official space
for pedestrians? This desire path is apparently
what you’re supposed to walk on, or this tiny space. How is that even possible? And it’s not just here. Other streets
follow a similar pattern. Dedicated bike paths, but barely
any room for people on foot. As you continue
pedestrian space does improve, but then the bike
infrastructure just ends, forcing you into the side
roads. That’s not terrible, but these side streets should definitely become bicycle
streets with fewer parked cars. You’ve got to start somewhere, because if you don’t, cars
will get everywhere. Like on the advance stop lines for bikes
or even on crosswalks. Reducing visibility. Innsbruck
is a great counterexample. And close to castle
it’s still frustrating to see how much space is
given to cars while the two way bike path
next to it feels squeezed. As expected, the city center
is much more enjoyable. There are LTZs, pedestrian
areas, lots of life, restaurants
and events. It’s not that large, but
I’ve got no complaints there. Still,
I get the distinct feeling that some drivers with access treat the city center like
their personal parking space. And don’t get me
started on selling cars in pedestrianized areas. Nothing ruins the vibe more. You’ll also see bikes
parked everywhere, often where
they’re not supposed to be. I’m not defending that
behavior, but let’s be clear. Bike parking is awful. There just isn’t enough of it. And what exists is often
poor quality. Forget about high quality
racks in Ferrara. The only decent ones I saw were here and in this
newly pedestrianized plaza, which, by the way,
used to be a parking lot. I remember how miserable
it was to sit at a cafe surrounded by parked cars. Look at it now. No one would want to go back. Other streets like Corso Porta
Po don’t get the same treatment. This is Italy’s version
of the American “stroad”. A place
that should be for people, but has become a high volume
car corridor with parking on both sides. Pedestrians are squeezed
to the edges like they don’t
belong here anymore. If you’re in a wheelchair,
forget it. You have zero
right to exist here. At least they build
a new protected crossing. Probably because there’s
a school just right there. Trust me,
it makes a difference. Still, the wide lanes
invite speeding, and it’s easy to imagine what
the average driver does here. You’ll get nowhere
without the redesign of space. I can’t leave out the recent
urban regeneration that took place
a few years ago in the southern section
of the Darsena waterfront. This area had long
been neglected, but it’s been now transformed into a much more livable
space, with greenery near the canal
where people go to walk, eat and for live music. The project, also added
new pedestrian and cycling paths
that didn’t exist before, creating new links
to existing routes leading to
the historic center. The northern part of the area
saw a much needed road diet, and the creation
of a new pedestrian zone lined with trees. This change was long overdue. Crossing this area on foot
from the southern part of the city
used to be terrible, so I really have nothing
negative to say about this part of the urban
regeneration. It was very well done. What I want to focus on
though, is the new parking
lot known as Ex Mof. This project in the SUMP
was described as essential to the low traffic zone
plan for the city center, a way to push car traffic
to the edges of town. Ex Mof is located right at the southern edge
of the future LTZ and the original plan
was to turn it into a proper mobility hub with bus tickets
included in the price. Essentially
a park and ride facility. But what actually happened? The municipality made sure this new parking area
was sold as absolute free to use, without any mention
of transit hub or interchange. Not only did the lot became
even larger than before, but the city also added
more free parking spaces in the surrounding
regenerated area. You see, in a car
dependent society, nothing sells
better than free parking. Let me explain. I know that many of the things I said in
this video will sound very unpopular
to the average citizen, and I am aware I’ll get some
hate in the comments. And I get it. When a city like Ferrara has been built around
car dependency, any policy that tries
to redistribute space more fairly
feels like an attack on cars. From that perspective,
the backlash makes sense. But here’s something
to think about. No city, absolutely no city in
the world has ever improved by adding more car parking
and, even worse, free parking. In a car based society. We’ve equated freedom with going wherever I want,
whenever I want in my car. But what about the child who
can’t walk to school safely, the elderly person
stuck at home because there’s no bus, The person spending half of their income
on a car they didn’t want. That’s not freedom here. True freedom is the ability
to move safely, affordably, and independently,
even without a car. And while the loudest voices are often
the angriest drivers, there are many people
quietly who want safer streets for their kids, are tired of noise, pollution
and constant car expenses, and would gladly trade
a few parking spots for a better,
more livable city. Unfortunately,
what’s being done today feels a lot like what was done
over the past 50 years. It’s not really the project itself, but rather
how it has been presented. Take the Diamanti
parking garage right in the heart
of the historic center. It costs just €0.50 per hour
with a €2 a day maximum. No other European
city of similar size offers such a cheap
parking in the city center and now, with this new lot
being marketed simply as absolutely free, it’s clear
where this is headed. Free parking has never solved
traffic problems. These kinds of offerings
only lead to one outcome again and again. Induced demand, and with it,
more traffic and more cars. This is not what Ferrara’s
SUMP was meant for. Still,
let’s try to stay optimistic. And maybe this
is just a transitional phase. For transit. I didn’t have
a great experience with it. Public transport in the city
relies entirely on busses. And the biggest issue
is frequency. There are two main bus lines
that run with decent frequency in the central area: line 11,
which goes north south, and line 6, which runs
east west every 15 minutes. That’s actually quite good,
especially line six, which connects
to the hospital. However,
the rest of the network operates
only every 30 minutes. That’s simply not enough
for a city of this size. And I’ve tested it myself. I used the Moovit app, which is
officially recommended by the local transit
company, TPER. It lets you check routes
and real time locations. Sounds good right? Well,
the first time I tried line 3, that took a completely
different route with no notice on the app, no temporary
reroute info, nothing. The second time, line 2 had a stop
that was temporarily closed. The app didn’t say anything,
and going to the next stop would have meant waiting
too long. So I just walked. Then it happened on line 4. This time
it affected my parents who couldn’t walk far and there were trying
to reach the train station. Guess what?
They had to walk too. And eventually
I figured out why. Instead of simply
updating the app, they expect users, yes, including tourists
and occasional riders, to go to the company’s website
just for fun. Find the news section. Dig through it to see if their
line’s affected and decipher something like “deviazione
mercatale del venerdì”
or “Friday market detour”. No map is provided, so good luck
tracing the detour manually and good luck hoping your alternative option
isn’t affected either. I’m not making this up. And by the way, service
ends at around 8 p.m. if you’re lucky. And we’re really that surprised that
ridership numbers are so low? Not all is lost. The bus lines I mentioned,
line 3 and 4 are currently being electrified. A few months ago, construction began on the new charging stations
at the main train station, which is a promising
development. It’s still unclear whether this will also lead
to better service frequency. But it’s actually
on the rail front that Ferrara is undergoing its most significant
transformation, especially in terms of urban
regeneration. Back in the 2000s, the city
launched the “metropolitana di superficie” project, a surface railway
with several urban stops planned along the south
eastern section of the city. However, the project never really took of over
the past 20 years. It had all the surface railway features,
but nothing of the metro part. Take the stop
near the hospital for example. Train frequencies there
range from every 2 to 4 hours. I’m not joking! Wanna guess how many people used
that station per day in 2019? Just 51. Ferrara is emblematic
of how public transport and non car infrastructure more broadly, has often
been treated in Italy. As an afterthought. A few years ago, the same railway line
was included in the rail trenching project, and it’s the most ambitious
urban and engineering challenge
Ferrara has ever faced. The plan involves
removing the level crossings that have split the city in two for decades,
creating long queues, building two new underground stations
and converting the surface level tracks into a green
pedestrian and cycling path. This is exactly
the kind of project that should have been done
decades ago. Now, once it’s completed
and fully electrified by 2025, the question remains: will
we finally see trains running at least
every 30 minutes or less? Just like a metro service? And finally,
it’s time to talk about the real protagonist
of Ferrara. The bicycle. If the city has reached such a high share of trips by bike, then clearly something was done
right over the decades. There’s
no doubt that the extent of the cycling network
is impressive. 218km as 2024. The main backbone is the ring
path around the medieval walls,
which is mostly recreational and several radial connections
branching off from it. The rest of the network
is definitely above the Italian average, but
still in many ways mediocre because having
a lot of kilometers of cycling infrastructure
doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good, usable,
or even connected. The SUMP talks about improving
infrastructure quality, but it stays vague about how and where
exactly this will happen. That’s likely because the city
chose not to adopt the Bici Plan, a detailed
planning document specifically for cycling traffic
that by law, cities of this size must have. Without it, the plans
seem more like a wish list than a road map. In practice, here’s
what it looks like. If there’s enough space that you won’t bother cars
too much, that you might get decent
bike space. Otherwise,
most routes are shared with cars or pedestrians. Even where there’s a separate
path, it’s often so narrow that people walking and biking
inevitably overlap. Currently, the main access
through the historic center offer
almost nothing for cycling. Take the Corso Porta
Po we’ve seen before. For example, it’s
not a bad street on its own, but it’s 50km/h and busy,
which makes it quite uncomfortable
to bike safely. The city provides the future
cycling network of 2030, and that helps you understand
that the majority of it will still be shared
with pedestrians, and the map isn’t
always reliable. For instance,
it claims there’s a connection from the train station
to the university, but there isn’t. Or take this recently
built segment labeled as dedicated cycle path, but it’s clearly shared
with pedestrians. And I think with this, we’ve also explained
why walking share is so low. I’d like to simulate
real life usage. And this time
I had to go to Decathlon. So I figured perfect chance
to test biking. And what’s the ideal spot
for a store that promotes sports, active lifestyles
and cycling in a bike friendly city? In the middle of nowhere: no bike access, no sidewalks,
and no public transit. I had high expectations,
so I contacted the store. A very kind employee replied
with detailed instructions and even asked me to help pressure the municipality
to improve access. So this video is also for you. Glad to help. My trip started at Piazza Duomo,
heading south on via Bologna, and here I got a real taste
of what low quality infrastructure means. Some residential areas in
the south have newer bike lanes and low speed limits, though the road design doesn’t
always reflect that. And then the pleasure
of biking here. Now imagine doing this
with kids or at night. So safe. Decathlon
clearly aware of the situation and installed a simple bike
rack, something you’d expect to see
in an American big box store parking lot. On the way back there were
still plenty of people biking. When I saw elderly riders,
I started asking myself, how did Ferrara reach
such a high level of bike use with such
uninviting infrastructure? Maybe I’m just spoiled
by northern Europe standards. Maybe the point is that
all it takes is starting with something. Even if it’s not perfect
and people will still come? Let me know in the comments. I also biked through was probably one of the newest
renovated roads with painted bike lanes, and honestly,
I don’t mind it. If only the road had lower
speeds and less dooring risk, but at least
this one sends a new message. This street isn’t only for cars, it’s
not the 70s anymore. Subscribe
if you’d like to know more. I’m planning a video on
why Italian cities are still so far
behind the rest of Europe. So is Ferrara
still the city of bicycles? Compared to the average
Italian city, absolutely. But it falls far
short of many European cities, even those without a deeply
rooted cycling tradition. Ferrara
had a unique opportunity. An intact cycling culture
preserved over the decades to become a true national model
for a people first city. But the potential
has been mostly wasted. Ferrara today still looks
and feels more like a car first city. A good first step would be
simply applying its own SUMP which proposed turning back to first modern
European Street in what it was meant to be: a safe space where children
can walk and bike to school, not a place
when they’re taught to get dropped off
at the gate. Most Italian cities
will struggle to reach Ferrara’s current level of bike
use even in ten years. So rather than only focusing
on bike infrastructure, Ferrara must prioritize public
transport and quality public space, adopting a shared space
approach where needed. And the only way to make that happen is yes,
you guessed it, reducing car use and ownership in line
with European standards. The national and EU
policies are crystal clear. The system is no longer
sustainable. Ferrara must move faster
and make bold choices to become once again
a modern, livable city where the only acceptable
number of road deaths is zero. If you made it to the
end of the video, thank you. Research, digging data, finding the right people
to talk to, and editing all take a lot of time,
and I’m doing it all for free. If you’d like to support
my work, consider subscribing. Or you can donate a coffee
as a one time donation through the link
in the description. As I prepare to leave Ferrara
for my next stop, Padova, to explore how its tram
network shaped urban space, I took a moment to enjoy
the last minutes of the day in the main square
with this incredible sunset. I found myself mesmerized
by the mix of people moving through the city, walking, biking, talking
a beautiful, organized chaos, knowing without any doubt
the precise reason why people chose
to spend their evenings here. Thanks for watching.