in italy the transition from lire to euros made everything more expensive. officially the inflation was like 3 % or under "except for alimentary products" .. but that's just the official. 1 euro = 1936,27 old lire (just calcolate it 2000 = easier) ... soooo. most cities had a bus ticket that was 1500 before (0,77 e). they rose the price of the ticket ONE DAY before the transition, in the end of 2001 so that isn't in the estimate obviously. so, from 0,77 to 1,00. huh. most cities did that (like 60 minutes urban/center single bus ticket price). coffee (espresso) went from 1500 (0,77) to 0,80 or 0,90 and higher.. newspapers were 1500 (0,77) and they went to 0,90 .. before there wary many small products (plastic kitchenware, cheap toys, kitchen and bathroom ware, whatever) and launches of new magazines that were 1000 (0,52) - all those went to 1,00 - except most new magazines and whatever they sell in the newspaper stand - launches: if they were mostly 1000 (0,52) they went to 2,50 - 5,00 ...uh uh. some estimates on the food were it got 20-30 more pricey, according to a parallel institute that estimated prices.. that was of a consumer association. and it ended up to nearly like war in tv, they and the old, pissed off bosses of the national statistics agency were yelling at each other and wanted to make a denounce.. huh. nuts...