Italian exports have withstood the impact of US tariffs, recording a +3.3% last year, but significant gaps exist from region to region and from territory to territory, with the South and the Islands recording heavy losses: -11%.
This is according to Istat, which highlights, among the Southern regions, the most significant declines in Basilicata, Sardinia , and Sicily, which saw their products suffer a double-digit decline in their attractiveness on foreign markets in 2025. For Sardinia, in particular, the export decline was -11.4%.
On the other hand, last year the queen of exports was Tuscany (+21.3%), followed by Friuli-Venezia Giulia (+17.8%), Calabria (+10.8%), Liguria (+10.2%) and Lazio (+9.6%).
Furthermore, the Institute of Statistics notes that in 2025, the provinces that contributed most to supporting sales on foreign markets were Florence, Arezzo, Trieste, Varese, and Frosinone; those that provided the largest negative contributions were Syracuse, Milan, Cagliari , Ascoli Piceno, and Siena.
Regarding the analysis of the underlying data, Istat emphasizes that "the increase in exports of pharmaceutical, chemical-medicinal, and botanical products from Tuscany, Lazio, Lombardy, Abruzzo, and Campania accounts for 2.6 percentage points of the growth in national exports compared to 2024. A further positive contribution of one percentage point comes from increased exports of base metals and metal products, excluding machinery and equipment, from Tuscany. Conversely, the contraction in sales of sporting goods, games, musical instruments, precious metals, and medical instruments from Tuscany and refined petroleum products from Sicily and Sardinia contributes a negative one percentage point to the change in exports."
(Unioneonline/lf)
