Agriculture

Very varied and often apparently heavily subsidised. Many of the farms are generations old, small and major challenge is the lack of a cheap labour source. It is not very fashionable to be a farmer and if were not for EU subsidies most would not be farming either.



The wine industry does very well and generally wines are very good in Italy. I am yet to have tasted a poor house wine.

Fresh produce is a very active sector with most Italian busy there fresh produce every day and still a very significant portion of this from markets, although supermarkets are gradually becoming more common. The quality (particularly in terms of taste) of this fresh produce is superb - where else in the world can one find a stall that ONLY sells tomatoes and has at least 50 different cultivars with a great range in flavour and shape?