Indoor air quality and thermal comfort in schools: Comparative analysis of mechanical controlled and natural ventilation in northern and southern Italy

The "necessARIA" project addresses analysis, promotion, and coordination of indoor air quality issues. Objectives include data integration for evaluating sanitary and plant engineering aspects. This activity analyzes air change systems in existing school buildings based on 35 installations in Bolzano, Abruzzo, and Apulia regions. Monitoring provides reliable data for future school installations. Results show optimal indoor air quality in classrooms with mechanical controlled ventilation (VMC) versus naturally ventilated classrooms, which present humidity and microbiological challenges. Continuous monitoring used CO2 indicators, temperature, relative humidity, and microbiological analysis during winter 2025-2026. The project is funded by the Ministry of Health under the National Complementary Plan "Health, Environment, Biodiversity, Climate" (PREV-A-2022- 12377013).