High flight (and train) fares for the Easter weekend

The expensive flights are looming over the Easter holiday. This is according to Assoutenti monitoring, which is raising the alarm because tickets on the main routes from North to South have already exceeded 400 euros. Prices that at the moment do not include the possible application of the fuel surcharge linked to the run-up in crude oil prices. After all, you already need 343 euros to buy a ticket for the Milan - Crotone route and 324 euros for the Rome - Reggio Calabria one. To reach the Calabrian capital from Milan, on the other hand, 308 euros are needed. Costs were researched leaving on Friday 3 April and returning on Tuesday 7 April. More than 320 euros are needed to fly on the same dates to Catania from Turin, Florence and Ancona. According to the prices collected by Assoutenti, the highest prices are also on the routes Naples-Olbia (310 euros), Verona-Catania (297 euros), Milan-Brindisi (296 euros), Milan-Catania (290 euros), Verona-Palermo (282 euros), Bologna-Reggio Calabria (281 euros). Prices that - the consumers' association points out - do not include additional services such as hand luggage or choice of seat, jolts that further increase flight expenses.

"These fares are destined to rise further in the coming days as a result of increased demand from citizens who want to return home during the holidays,' warns Gabriele Melluso, president of Assoutenti. But another threat also looms over Italians' air travel and journeys: fuel price rises and the losses suffered by airlines in recent days due to the closure of airspace risk being passed on to consumers in the near future, with a new wave of price increases for tickets to all destinations.

It doesn't get any better on the train front: a one-way trip (3 April) on a high-speed train, buying it today, costs at least 185 euros to go with Italo from Turin to Reggio Calabria, 175 euros from Milan. With Trenitalia it costs 120 euros from Milan to Lecce, 116 euros from Turin to Bari, 96 euros from Venice to Lecce, 92 euros from Genoa to Salerno.

(with departure on 3 April and return on 7 April)

For Catania