Too much traffic and ever higher rents are driving Italians out of their major cities. A new study by the Fondazione Filippo Caracciolo shows that, over the last ten years, the number residents living in historic centre residents has dropped, for instance, by seven per cent in Rome, eight per cent in Milan, nine per cent in Venice, and 11 per cent in Florence. In addition to blaming a 7.5 per cent rise in traffic and a 44 per cent increase in rents, those leaving also named high car parking costs, social exclusion, pollution and building work as their reasons for moving. In its title, the report asked whether Italys historic centres had now become museum-ghettoes rather than motors of development.