In Valle Castellana a 50 liter tank of petrol costs 87.50 euros. With the Abruzzo average of 23 August, just over 100 were needed. The difference lies in a fuel pump that this small mountain municipality in the province of Teramo decided to manage directly, after the only distributor in the area risked disappearing.
The price indicated at the pump was 1.75 euros per liter for petrol and 1.89 euros for diesel. On the same day, according to official data from the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy, in Abruzzo the self-service average was respectively 2.011 and 2.132 euros per litre. It means around 26 cents less on petrol and 24 on diesel. On 50 liters they save 13.05 euros in the first case and 12.10 in the second.
They already call it the “mayor’s petrol”. The name makes you smile, the mechanism tells something very concrete about the internal areas: what happens when a service risks disappearing and the Municipality decides to get behind the counter. Or, in this case, at the pump.
Facebook – @Municipality of Valle Castellana
The only distributor was closing, the Municipality took it over
The story begins in 2022. And here the municipal documents allow us to sort out a detail that in the reconstructions circulated in recent days has been told a little too hastily.
The distributor was not purchased by the Municipality. An official determination from Valle Castellana reconstructs the passage: after the cessation of the only fuel distribution activity present in the area, the Authority decided to lease the plant to prevent the service from disappearing. The contract is dated March 17, 2022 and the lease begins March 20. A few days later, the council gave a mandate to the offices to proceed with the transfer, start-up and management of the station.
The formula has remained the same over the years. As of 2025, the Municipality was still paying an annual fee of 4,998.38 euros for the land and the distributor. And in 2026 the documents continue to explicitly define it as a “municipal fuel distributor”, with the Municipality directly purchasing petrol and diesel for sale.
For Valle Castellana, losing that pump would have meant something more than a nuisance. The municipality has around 800 inhabitants distributed among dozens of small hamlets, in a very large mountain area. Getting gas can already take several kilometers; eliminating even the last distributor meant adding others.
How much do you really save with the “mayor’s petrol”
The most sensible comparison is the one with Abruzzo. On 23 August 2026, self-service petrol was traveling in the region at 2.011 euros per litre, diesel at 2.132 euros. In Valle Castellana they were indicated respectively 1.75 and 1.89 euros.
Even compared to the national average, the distance remains considerable. On the Italian road network the MIMIT recorded 2,010 euros for petrol and 2,130 for diesel. On a 50 liter tank, the difference therefore comes to around 13 euros.
Then there is the motorway, where the comparison becomes almost merciless. On 23 August the national self-service average on the motorway network was 2.087 euros for petrol and 2.203 for diesel. Compared to the Valle Castellana pump it means 16.85 euros less on 50 liters of petrol and 15.65 on diesel.
Behind those prices there is a municipality that buys fuel like a manager
Public management does not end with the sign. Just scroll through the transparent Administration of the Municipality to find, year after year, purchases, liquidations, utilities and maintenance related to the service station.
In February 2026, for example, a determination of the economic-financial area liquidates 7,473.26 euros for a supply of petrol and diesel. The following June another liquidation appears for the municipal distributor. In 2025, orders reached several tens of thousands of euros per single supply.
It is a small commercial activity inserted inside the municipal machine: you have to buy fuel, pay utilities, maintain the system and keep open a service that the market had let go.
The articles circulating in recent days also include the figure of around 500 thousand euros in revenue in 2025. In the easily consultable municipal documents we found the expenses and supplies, but not yet an accounting document that allows us to directly verify that figure. It is therefore better to avoid confusing, at least for now, half a million in receipts with half a million in earnings: they would be two very different things.
The verifiable part is already enough to tell the story. In 2022 Valle Castellana risked losing the last place to refuel. The municipality rented the plant and put it back into operation. Four years later he still buys fuel directly and at the pump, while in much of Italy petrol costs more than two euros, the sign reads 1.75. Sometimes big plans are needed to save a service in internal areas. In Valle Castellana they started with a rental contract and two tanks to fill.
