About 85 euros per month: this is how much a family spent on average in the current school year for the canteen of a child enrolled in nursery school and primary school respectively. This is 4.25 and 4.30 euros per meal.
The most expensive region on average is Emilia Romagna with 108 euros per month (last year it was Basilicata) while the cheapest is, as in the previous school year, Sardinia with 61 euros for nursery school and 64 euros for primary school.
This year too, there has been an increase in rates, albeit not very significant (around 1%), with significant variations at a regional level.
These are the data that emerge from the VIII Survey on school canteens, with which Cittadinanzattiva has analyzed, for all provincial capitals, how much a family of three people, two parents and a minor child, with a gross annual income of 44,200 euros and an ISEE of 19,900 euros, pays.
In calculating the annual fee for the school catering service, a frequency of 20 days per month for a total of 9 months was assumed, excluding any extra annual and/or monthly fees.
"Every day in Italy, almost 2 million students benefit from school meals, a sector that represents a strategic investment for public health and for the economic development of the country. However, Istat data on the material poverty of many families and many minors cannot leave us indifferent and indeed require timely and concrete responses: in 2024, we are talking about 23% of families at risk of poverty, a percentage that rises to 42% - up 5% compared to 2023 - for those with three or more minor children . Among the latter, 10.4% (it was 9.5% in 2023) are in serious material and social deprivation. In particular, it is necessary to provide ongoing interventions, for at least five years, to support families, but also to strengthen the Fund for combating food poverty at school, provided for by the latest Budget Law and intended for Municipalities for the provision of contributions to allow free access to the canteen service to primary school students belonging to families in economic difficulty. Regarding the Fund, we ask that the implementing decree be issued as soon as possible to distribute the resources among local authorities", says
