Italy’s inflation hits 5.4%, outpacing the U.S. and China, as a farmers’ revolt empties shelves of pasta and mozzarella

Farmers tipped two bins of manure in front of Turin’s city hall Friday morning, just before tens of thousands of people set off on a march against living costs and military spending. The farmers were acting “against those who want to turn Turin into the city of arms companies,” a speaker told the crowd over a microphone.

Turin was one of more than 50 Italian cities that held protests Friday during a general strike called by the grassroots union USB. Farmers marched alongside truck drivers, students and taxi drivers. The same morning, Istat reported that Italian inflation rose to 5.4% in October, its highest level in more than three years. That’s higher than in the U.S., where prices rose 3.7% in the year through September, and far above China’s 0.9%. Italian energy prices were up 31.4% from a year earlier. Gas and diesel prices are so high that people were spotted riding horses through the streets of Naples.

For Italian farmers, Friday was the latest round in a month-long fight over the cost of running a farm. In mid-October, truckers and........

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