Students protested nationwide in Italy on Friday, and the Milan riots label has spread as police in Rome said bottles and flares were thrown at officers. Thousands also rallied outside the education ministry in Rome as schools were occupied in several cities.
The unrest is tied to schools, wages, fuel costs and the cost of living. Christian Ferrari of CGIL said, “Italy is in a dramatic economic and social crisis” and called for “at the centre of the electoral campaign the material living and working conditions of Italians.”
Rome and the education ministry
Police in Rome said bottles and flares were thrown at their officers on Friday. The same day, a teachers' union demanded wage increases and new hires, while thousands gathered outside the education ministry in Rome.
The protests reached beyond students. Farmers and truck drivers blocked roads earlier this week in Puglia, Calabria and Sicily because of fuel prices, adding pressure on Italy and its transport network.
Christian Ferrari and CGIL
Ferrari said, “The cost of living is unbearable, our productive system is losing pieces every day, there is a climate emergency... Some people are saying enough is enough.” He linked the protests to the campaign ahead of next year and argued that living and working conditions should stay at the centre of that contest.
Italy's government became the country's longest-serving government last month, and Giorgia Meloni has sought to curb soaring fuel prices through tax suspensions and with the help of major fuel distributors. The political balance is stable, but the street pressure now runs through school occupations, road blockages and the wage debate at the same time.
Conftrasporto and road blockades
Conftrasporto threatened a national blockade and denounced “the climate of tension created by the unbearable situation linked to the surge in energy prices.” The warning followed earlier road blockages in Puglia, Calabria and Sicily, where fuel prices had already pushed farmers and truck drivers onto the roads.
Real wages fell by 6.6 percent between 1990 and 2026, according to the Parliamentary Budget Office, while inflation accelerated sharply in September to 4.2 percent year-on-year. That combination explains why schools, roads and wages are now feeding the same protest wave.
The next pressure point is whether the protest movement widens from student rallies and regional blockages into the national blockade Conftrasporto threatened. How large and coordinated the unrest becomes before next year is the open question Meloni's government now has to face.
