Smart City revolution is coming to Italy, too. Some early projects were already done in the past, for example European Smart Cities project compared Ancona (51th), Perugia (52th), Trento (45th) and Trieste (49th) with other early smart EU cities, more recently the Rete città intelligenti was promoted by ForumPA with IBM, including smaller towns effort like Monteveglio with Transition Town or those involved in the ZeroCO2 Communities project.
But it was the FP7 European Initiative on Smart Cities that has ignited many local Public administrations, such as Florence, Genova, Torino, Bari, Firenze, Milano, Parma, Palermo to launch new initiatives in order to take advantage of the opportunity of funding (10 000 – 12 000 M€ for a total of 40 000 M€ ). Obviously competition is hard since EU will co-finance only 25 large cities (>500 000 inhabitants) and 5 very large cities (>1 000 000 inhabitants) committing to implement the proposed demonstration, testing and deployment programmes in the 3 sectors – buildings, energy networks and transport and to go beyond the 2020 EU climate and energy targets.
In 2013, Florence was awarded the title of “Smart City” of Italy. In an effort to be more transparent with its citizens, Florence shares the title of Smart City, given by the Milan-based communications technology fair, SMAU. The award, shared with Rome and Aquila, is given to cities that are making an effort to develop and implement forward-thinking ideas for residents and citizens of the region.
Rome has put into effect a smart-card (the Carta Roma) which offers discounts and financial services to its residents, while Florence has long been a forerunner in the data transparency movement, with the city’s Open Data website, which is Italy’s third largest producer of data. The City of Florence has long worked to ‘open’ its data up to the public. It aims to be completely transparent and have all data verified online so it is clearly presented to the public. It is a ‘revolution’ that aims to change the rules of public administration in Italy. Along with its Open Data implementation, Florence also employs an Open Budget web program which presents a detailed breakdown of city spending. It is the only city in Italy to get a five star rating for quality and accessibility of information.
Florence, Italy (意大利佛罗伦萨) Smart City developments:
- Smart Lighting: use of advanced technologies related to lighting (lighting with LED sources) for energy savings and reduced environmental impact; 智能照明：使用与照明相关的先进技术（采用发光二极管来源照明），从而可节能并降低对环境的不利影响。
- ELECTRA: promoting a new urban sustainable mobility model. Increase the electric scooters use in urban areas, through short sharing (e.g. for one day) or rent (e.g. for six months); 推广新型城市可持续移动模式。通过短期分享（例如：一天）或出租（例如：六个月）的方式，从而增加在城市区域内电动脚踏车的使用。
- Open Data: Florence has launched a section of its website dedicated to recently released mobile apps; 开放资料：佛罗伦萨已经正式推出了网站的一部分，专门用于最近发布的移动应用。Florence Heritage: information about elements of the city that contribute to its UNESCO Heritage status, including historic shops and Palazzi, itineraries and in depth information;佛罗伦萨遗产：关于该城市的一部分贡献于联合国教科文组织遗产的状态信息，包括历史悠久的商店、宫殿、旅行线路以及全面的信息。FirenzeUp: connects to the city’s events database. FirenzeUp：与城市的事件数据库相连接. Firenze the Walking City: suggests historic and panoramic walking itineraries, including a guide to open Wi-Fi hotspots, 步行城市佛罗伦萨：建议的步行线路，以方便参观历史景点和全景，包括打开无线上网热点的指引
- GEO is a service of geo-referencing information resources in the field of mobility. Provides access to a family of related services to the mobility and provides real-time traffic situation of Florence. Possible to see construction work, accidents, speed cameras, detours, etc. GEO是移动领域的地理参考信息资源服务。提供一系列移动性相关服务的使用，也提供佛罗伦萨实时交通状况的信息。有可能看到施工工程、事故、超速摄像头以及便道等。
