Cleaner air, bigger lungs. With a prospectic 15-years long study Gauderman examined the relationship between declining pollution levels over time and lung-function development from 11 to 15 years of age in southern California and established that the declining levels of NO2, PM2,5 e PM10 were associated with growth of both FEV1 and FVC and with a significant reduction in the prevalence of asthma. This article briefly discusses the data of atmospheric emissions in Italy, from the ISPRA report 2014 on the quality of the urban environment. This report, while showing a significant reduction in time of the main pollutants, demonstrates that critical issues in emissions of industry and transports persist, that in many areas exceeding the EU limits and those, more restrictive, indicated by WHO as safe for health.