School meals: how much do they cost? Up to €89 a month

A monthly cost of €87 for nursery school and €89 for primary school: this is the cost of school meals borne by a family on an average income in the 2025/2026 academic year. This is an increase compared to 2024/2025, when the figures were €85 and €86 respectively.

This is according to the 9th School Canteen Survey, in which Cittadinanzattiva analysed the costs for all Italian regional capitals for a family of three, two parents and one child, with a gross annual income of €44,200 and an ISEE of €19,900. In calculating the annual cost of the school catering service, an attendance rate of 20 days per month for a total of 9 months was assumed.

Nationwide, the cost per meal rises to €4.30 for nursery schools and €4.41 for primary schools, representing an average increase of 2.1% and 2.7% respectively, as well as peaks in price rises reaching +16.6% in Molise and +7.6% in Abruzzo for primary schools. Emilia Romagna remains the most expensive region on average, at €116 per month for nursery schools and €115 for primary schools, a significant increase compared to the average of €108 per month recorded in the previous survey. The cheapest region, however, remains Sardinia, at €61 for nursery school (unchanged) and €65 for primary school (€64 last year).

Significant changes are also evident at the level of individual provincial capitals: whilst last year the cheapest city overall was Barletta (€2.00 per meal at both levels), this year the top spot goes to Cagliari (€2.10 for both nursery and primary school). At the other end of the scale, Parma is the most expensive city of all, both for nursery school (€7.80 per meal, overtaking Turin) and for primary school (€7.10). Among the major cities, Rome continues to perform well, with an unchanged cost per meal of €2.60 for both nursery and primary school.

According to data from the Ministry of Education and Merit for the 2024/2025 school year, 36.5% of state school buildings have a canteen, a slight improvement on the 34.5% recorded the previous year. However, regional differences remain, albeit with slight improvements: in the North the figure stands at 45.5% and in the Centre at 41.5%, whilst in the South the proportion has risen from 22% last year to the current 24%, and in the Islands from 21% to 22.3%.