Summary Bakeries in Rome are shutting shop, selling old bread at half-price to draw hard-up customers.
ROME (AFP) - As a devastating economic crisis hits ordinary Italians, traditional bakeries in Rome are shutting shop and some are resorting to selling old bread at half-price to draw hard-up customers.
"Crisis-Beating Offer: Bread left over is sold the next day at half price," read a sign at a bakery in the Trionfale market near the Vatican.
"For a while our clients have been quietly asking us if we can sell them yesterday s bread to save money," said Cesara Chiappini, owner of the bakery, told Rome s Il Messaggero daily.
"It s above all pensioners who ask us but also young mothers. Instead of paying 2.35 euros ($3), they save 1.17 euros. It s not a lot but then they can go and buy a kilo of vegetables," she said.
Assopanificatori, the national association of bakeries, said 60 bread shops in Rome shut down last year and production fell by 10 percent -- a sign that Romans are saving on food.
Italy s main farmers federation Coldiretti said that last year nine percent of Rome s inhabitants were fed by charities.
A recent study by the official data agency Istat revealed that 71 percent of Italians have changed the quantity and quality of the products they buy as a result of the crisis and have cut down on medical visits and analyses.
