No Wonder

It wasn't too hard to imagine. When the new emergency Italian government launched the latest austerity measures, including tax raises on fuels and a 5% increase on highway tolls, most everybody knew that all goods were to suffer a price increase. About 90% of all merchandise going up and down the peninsula is moved on tires. Which is crazy in terms of pollution, congestion, road accidents and, of course, oil dependency. How ridiculous and unnecessary it is that bottled mineral water from the north is hauled to the south and vice-versa. A typical truck traveling from Reggio Calabria to Milano wastes 1,000 liters of diesel fuel, at a cost of 1,800 Euro, plus about 350 Euro in highway tolls.
Truck drivers demand for lower costs and two days ago they started protests and road blocks. Many crucial spots throughout the country are since impassable and causing havoc. There is serious shortage of fuel products in many areas of the country, and markets and supermarkets shelves are nearly empty while thousands of tons of perishable food are rotting aboard trucks and in warehouses.
Regardless of this awful situation, it's always a wise practice to source local products as much as possible. Let's get the "old days" back to bicycles and carts.
My father's uncles were farmers and before WWII it was normal for them to cover 20 miles (32 Km) one way, and 20 miles back, twice a week to bring and sell produce into town by a horse-drawn cart. They were walking the horse back and forth rather than sitting on the cart and the round trip took all day. Too simple a life? Think of it when hunger will strike and food will be again the most precious thing in our lives. The system is collapsing and the alarm went off buzzing loud. UPDATE as of 6Jun12: The Italian government states that, for the reference period of January through April 2012, the national treasury chest received 3.5 billion Euro less than expected and this is mostly due to missing VAT income.