The economy of Florence is twice the national average. According to a report produced by the statistics office of the city’s chamber of commerce, industry, export and tourism have contributed to increasing the city’s coffers.
“We’re on the right road, the road to growth,” commented Leonardo Bassilichi, president of Florence’s chamber of commerce in a press release. “Now is the time to consolidate at a national and local level those economic choices that have produced these initial results … We have to give businesses the right support at the right time… For Florence this means bringing to a conclusion the modernization of infrastructure without which there can be no lasting development nor new stable employment: now the airport and the conference and trade fair centres are absolute priorities.”
Manufacturing by Florentine companies was up by 2.4 percent in the final quarter of 2015. Export grew by 7.2 percent in the same period with the United States, Russia and China as the main global partners, followed by France and Germany in Europe. Mechanical engineering, fashion (especially leather), pharmaceutics, and food and wine performed the best.
The city performed outstandingly in the tourism sector, too. In 2015, 13.7 million visitors came to Florence, an increase of 5.5 percent. International tourism accounted for 73.7 percent of visitors, bringing a total of 2.5 billion euro to the city, representing a 5.2 percent over 2014.
In addition, local business owners took advantage of a nationwide tax break introduced in 2015, with the result that permanent employment contracts increased by 48.8 percent.
