The tree-fourth of Italians have lunch at home every day

Three quarters of Italians eat lunch at home, but family-friendly statistic hide fact that Italy’s economy is in deep trouble

Of all the statistics available on Italy and its varied economic problems, few are as eye-opening as the fact that at around 1 p.m. on any given day, three-quarters of the population will normally be sitting down to lunch in their own homes.

According to data from statistics agency ISTAT, lunch is the most important meal of the day for 68 per cent of Italians and 74.3 per cent usually eat it at home, a figure which has grown as a long recession has hit spending on food and eating out.

As anyone who has seen the shuttered afternoon streets of a small Italian town knows, it can be hard to get much done at lunchtime in Italy, even though many shops and businesses stay open until relatively late in the evening to compensate.