For generations it was the answer to every occasion, the Friday dinner, the impromptu birthday, the evening without plans, because it cost little and gave a lot. A silent pact between those who made it and those who ate it, based on the trust that certain pleasures remained within everyone’s reach. Today, however, something is breaking. According to the latest survey by Altroconsumo, conducted on thirty Italian cities through data from the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy, the average cost of a pizza with a drink has grown by 26% compared to 2021, with a further +4.4% in the last year alone. And what was the democratic meal par excellence slowly begins to resemble a privilege.
If you want to save on an evening at a pizzeria, it is better to move to Reggio Calabria. With an average of under 9.50 euros for pizza and drinks, the Calabrian capital is the cheapest city in Italy, with Livorno just above, also under 10 euros. Two exceptions in a general picture which, otherwise, tells a very different story.
The ranking from cheapest to most expensive
An increase that doesn’t stop
On average, compared to 2021, the cost of a pizza with a drink has grown by 26%, with a further +4.4% in the last year alone. The heaviest price increases are recorded in Palermo, where prices have almost doubled in five years (+60%), and in Naples (+51%) – a sobering fact, given that we are talking about the city that invented pizza. In the North, Bolzano and Udine stand out, with increases between 38% and 43%. Ancona and Perugia are the exceptions, substantially stable, and especially Parma: the only city in the sample to record a long-term decline.
Same place, very different prices
Alongside the average, another phenomenon emerges: within the same city prices vary more and more markedly. In Palermo you can spend from 9 to 28 euros for the same meal, depending on the restaurant. Milan fluctuates between 8 and 22.50 euros, Florence between 8.50 and 20 euros. Reggio Calabria, on the other hand, in addition to being the cheapest, is also the most homogeneous, with just 2 euros difference between the most expensive place and the most convenient one.
Numbers in hand, pizza is no longer everyone’s meal. Not because she has changed – the dough, the oven, the simplicity that makes her unique – but because everything else around her has changed. The cost of living has also eroded this small collective ritual, and anyone who goes out to eat a pizza today already knows that the bill will be different from that of a year ago. A little saltier, as always. And next time, probably, even more.
