Padua among the Italian municipalities with the highest digital maturity: the survey

Padua is also this year among the Italian capital cities with the highest digital maturity. This is what emerges from the survey on the digital maturity of the capital cities carried out by Fpa, a company of the Digital360 group, for Deda Next, a reality of the Dedagroup Group committed to accompanying the digital transformation of public administrations and public service companies, presented at Forum Pa 2025.

The research, now in its seventh edition, analyses the progress of Italian municipal administrations in the digitalisation objectives identified by the PNRR, according to the Ca.Re. (Realised Change) model by Deda Next. A benchmark that represents an operational tool for measuring the results achieved by municipal administrations in their innovation path, comparing themselves with other similar realities and understanding which areas to intervene in to improve their level of digitalisation. The result is a classification of the state of digital maturity of 110 monitored cities with respect to some of the main dimensions of the digitalisation of the Italian PA: the offer of online services (Digital Public Services index), integration with the main national platforms (Digital PA) and maturity on open data and interoperability (Digital Data Gov index) which also includes measurements on the adoption of the PDND (National Digital Data Platform).

The analysis shows that Padua confirms itself among the administrations with the highest digital maturity for the fifth consecutive year. The dimensions achieved remain stable. The Ca.Re index records a value of 73 (+3% compared to 2024) as a reflection of the performance of the Digital Public Services index (80), Digital PA (84) and Digital Data Gov (56). The Councilor for Innovation and Digital Transition Margherita Cera emphasizes in this regard: «This result is not only a technical achievement, but the concrete sign of an administration that deeply believes in innovation as a lever to improve the quality of life of citizens. In recent years we have invested with determination in digital infrastructures, data collection, accessible and secure online services, training and staff culture, so that digital transformation truly has people at its center. From the digitalization of administrative procedures to the diffusion of digital identity, to the smart city projects and citizen training on the use of digital services of the public administration, each step has been guided by a clear vision: to make Padua inclusive and open to innovation, more transparent and closer to the needs of its inhabitants. This recognition encourages us to continue on this path, with even more energy and responsibility".

Fabio Meloni, CEO of Deda Next, emphasizes: «The results of the Ca.Re. 2025 Index show that digitalization has stopped being a set of interventions to become a systemic process of administrative evolution. Now the real challenge is to make this transformation structural, ensuring the technical, economic and organizational sustainability of the solutions adopted. The adoption of the National Digital Data Platform marks a crucial step: not just a platform but a new way of understanding public data as a shared resource, capable of enabling more efficient services, more informed decisions and more transparent relationships between institutions and citizens. This, combined with the intelligent interoperability of data, represents the basis for a public administration capable of evolving over time, not only to fulfill, but to anticipate the needs of people and society as a whole. I believe that this phase must be accompanied with responsibility and vision: innovation must become culture, an integral part of the daily management of public affairs and a lasting heritage for each entity, even beyond the extraordinary season of the Pnrr. At Deda Next we are committed every day to transforming this potential into reality. Not only by bringing technology, but by helping institutions build a culture of data and interoperability that is long-lasting and oriented towards generating widespread value. Padua, which we support with our back-office solutions in the field of accounting and management control, is also this year among the most virtuous municipalities and continues to work to further improve its digital maturity".

In the Digital Public Services index, the quantity and especially the quality of digital services to citizens are increasing. The cities in the highest band increase from 35 to 67, with a consequent reduction in the municipalities in the “medium-high” band (from 58 to 33) and “medium-low” band (from 17 to 9). Only one municipality is in the lowest maturity band. The significant growth in this dimension is mainly linked to the widespread improvement in the quality of service portals, thanks to the progressive implementation of municipal website templates financed under measure 1.4.1: 32 cities obtain the maximum score in this indicator. However, there is also an increase in the average of available services (from 15 to 16). The Digital PA Index highlights the improvement in the integration of municipal systems with national platforms. The cities in the highest band in 2025 are 37 (2 less than in 2024), but those in the medium-high band are growing, going from 45 to 60. At the same time, those in the medium-low band are decreasing (from 26 to 13) and no provincial capital is in the lowest band. The growth is linked to the progressive adoption of the various platforms, especially thanks to the advancement of the Pnrr measures aimed at pagoPa and appIo (1.4.3), digital identity (1.4.4) and digital notifications (1.4.5).

In the Digital Data Gov Index, the Pdnd's push for interoperability in provincial capitals emerges. In 2025, cities with a good level of maturity are 11 (+7), while those in the medium 30 range (+11). The realities with medium-low (34) and low (35) levels are decreasing. The slower growth of this dimension is due to the delay of several realities on the Open Data front and to the recent activation of the Pdnd compared to other national platforms. However, important progress has been made. In Open Data, the Municipalities that publish datasets go from 75 in 2024 to 83 in 2025 and the datasets published by the 110 provincial capitals are 17,198. With respect to interoperability, the Municipalities active on the Pdnd go from 30 to 84, for 420 e-services exposed on the platform (against 147 in 2004). The Municipalities that use e-services provided by other administrations grow to 107, with an average of 9.3 e-services used. Thanks, also in this case, to the strong progress of the projects financed under measure 1.3.1 of the Pnrr.