Overview
- Istat validated December inflation at +0.2% month on month and +1.2% year on year, with the 2025 annual rate rising to 1.5% from 1.0% in 2024.
- Price pressures in December were driven by transport services, unprocessed food and miscellaneous services, while regulated energy prices fell further.
- Cumulative increases since 2021 reached 24% for the basic food basket and 34.1% for energy, compared with a 17.1% rise in the overall index.
- Italy’s Antitrust authority has opened an investigation into food prices in large-scale retail after outsized increases reported across 2024–2025.
- Consumer associations estimate hundreds of euros in extra annual costs per household and opposition politicians call for urgent, structural measures.