Italy’s most expensive city

Bolzano took top place in a national ranking of Italy’s most expensive cities. The survey, conducted by Istat and with Unioncamere and the Istituto Tagliacarne, compared the prices of over 3,700 goods and services, including food, drinks, tobacco, clothing, electronics, furniture and house wares, and health care, in Italy’s regional capitals during 2009. It revealed that Bolzano is the country’s most expensive city, with prices that are 4.9 percent above the national average, while Naples ranked Italy’s least expensive, at 6.2 percent below the national average. At 4.7 percent above the national average, Italy’s second-most expensive city is Milan.