ROME - Two out of three Italians will give gifts for the Epiphany, for a total cost of 1.8 billion, according to the Confcooperative Study Center.
Economic crisis, store closings and the delayed take-off of sales lead to a 25% drop in spending compared to 2019, with missed purchases of 450 million euros.
"The socks for the little ones will be the master, full of sweets, chocolate but also charcoal, homemade with Italian sugar", according to the analysis.
At least one out of four stockings of sweets will be produced at home, an autarchy determined not only by the desire to save, but also by the greater availability of time.
The change in habits due to the pandemic, with more time spent at home, is also reflected in the other gifts: gifts are growing in board games (15%), pay TV subscriptions (7%) and books (5%), even to 27% of total gifts.
However, the primacy goes to socks (38%), followed by toys (35%).
Confcooperative reports that the Befana "will be the umpteenth anniversary that highlights the difficulties of over 3.8 million families, for a total of 10 million people living in poverty, an army inflated by the lockdown economy" and asks to identify measures of fight against poverty and active policies to help tackle a plague "which risks undermining the country's social harmony in the coming months".
