As the summer holidays draw to a close, kids in Italy are preparing to file back into the classroom for the start of the 2024/2025 school year.

This year, back-to-school dates will range from September 5th to September 16th, with children in the northern Bolzano province set to be the first back in front of the blackboard.

As kids around the country enjoy the last days of their summer break, families have already started the annual rush to stock up on school essentials. 

But the purchase of supplies and textbooks may deal many households a harder blow this year.

According to estimates from Italian consumer association Codacons, school supplies (backpacks, notebooks, pencil cases, stationery, etc.) may cost up to 15 percent more compared to last year, while textbooks will be nearly five percent pricier on average against 2023.

So how much should Italian families prepare to shell out?

According to Codacons, expenses for school supplies alone may amount to a whopping 600 euros per schoolchild. 

As usual, the most expensive item on the back-to-school list is the backpack, with the price of some brand-name articles exceeding 200 euros.

READ ALSO: OPINION: Italian schools need to make parents’ lives easier, not harder

But significant expenses are also required for pencil cases or pouches (some items may go for as much as 60 or 70 euros), school diaries (up to 35 euros for the most sought-after brands) and technical items (i.e., set squares and triangles, compasses, goniometers, etc.).

On top of school supplies, most families will also have to pay for textbooks. 

While elementary school textbooks are supplied free of charge across the country, costs for middle school (scuola media) and high school (scuola superiore) textbooks generally range between 300 and 700 euros, with prices varying depending on the year and school.

All in all then, Codacons estimates that the purchase of school supplies and textbooks may set Italian families back some 1,300 euros per schoolchild this year. 

READ ALSO: OPINION: Are Italy’s international schools really ‘international’?

But as price hikes give rise to justified concern among parents, consumer groups have already offered families some useful advice on how to save up on both supplies and textbooks.

How to save money on school supplies

• Avoid branded items. Children are easily influenced by TV and/or online ads and might push to get the most popular and fashionable articles on the market. However, off-brand items generally have the same features and durability as their more well-known counterparts and might go for 40 percent less.
• Buy from a local supermarket rather than a stationery shop. At this time of the year, many supermarket chains offer very favourable deals on school kits, with prices being sometimes 30 percent lower than in specialist shops.
• Don’t buy everything at once. Any item that is not immediately necessary can be bought at a later stage.
• Wait for teachers’ guidelines, especially when it comes to buying material for art or geometry classes. Knowing exactly what items are required will save you from spending money on wrong or unnecessary articles.

How to save money on textbooks

• Buy second-hand textbooks. Purchasing libri usati might allow you to save up to 50 percent on school books. However, it’s usually best to check the state of the items – especially their exercise pages – prior to buying. Also, keep in mind that past editions might no longer be accepted.
• Shop online or in supermarkets. Some supermarkets and online marketplaces sell textbooks at favourable prices, with discounts usually ranging between 10 and 20 percent.
• Buy digital textbooks. Again, not all schools allow this but in some institutes families have the option to buy the required set of textbooks in digital form. Children can then access the books via a pc, tablet or e-reader.
• Loan textbooks directly from the school. Not all institutes do this but some allow for various forms of comodato d’uso whereby families can loan textbooks for the entire length of the school year and then return them when classes end in June.