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Sardinia is the cheapest region – The most expensive region on average is Basilicata (109 euros per month), followed by Emilia Romagna (107 euros) and Liguria (103 euros). The cheapest region, however, is Sardinia (61 euros in childhood and 65 for primary school), slightly preceded by Umbria (67 euros). Only in two regions does the cost of meals remain unchanged compared to the previous year (Abruzzo and Valle d’Aosta) and only in four (Basilicata, Lazio, Tuscany and Umbria) does it decrease. In the others, however, very significant increases have been recorded, as in the case of Calabria (+26%), followed by Lombardy (+7.5%), Molise (+7.2%), Puglia (+6.9% ), Liguria (+6.83%) and Friuli Venezia Giulia (+5.9%).
Turin the most expensive city – At the level of individual provincial capitals, it is the families of Barletta who spend the least for a single meal (2 euros for both infancy and primary school) while for childcare they spend more in Turin (6.60 euros per meal) and for the primary school in Livorno and Trapani (6.40 euros). Among metropolitan cities, only Rome is included in the ranking of the least expensive, with a cost per meal for the “typical” family of around 2.32 euros in both types of school.
Lacking and inadequate structures in the South – Only one school building in 3 in Italy is equipped with a canteen. The canteens, however, are not distributed uniformly across the national territory. In the Southern regions, in fact, only 22% of schools have a canteen, in the Islands just 21%: the share drops further in Campania (15.6%) and Sicily (13.7%). In the Center and the North, however, the percentage of school canteens is decidedly higher: 41% and 43% respectively. The region with the highest number of canteens is Valle d’Aosta (72%), followed by Piedmont, Tuscany and Liguria. To attempt to bridge this disparity among the objectives set by the Pnrr there is the creation of approximately 1,000 school canteens. However, the researchers note, the little data available on the progress of the works highlights a strong delay in this line of financing, so the availability of the new structures will only be available starting from the second half of 2026.
