Backpackers travelling around Europe might have to give Italy's national dish a miss, after a local consumer association called for a one-day strike against pasta.
Each Italian consumes an average of 62 lb of pasta each year, but in response to recent price rises, people have been urged to abstain.
Due to a rise in the price of durum flour, Pasta manufacturers have been forced to raise their own costs, with the potential for a 20 per cent mark-up by the end of the year.
However, industry representatives said the strike was unjust.
Talking to the Associated Press, Furio Bragagnolo, vice president of the Italian pasta manufacturers association, said: "There is no dish that costs less.
"Whoever decides to strike against pasta will spend more on whatever they buy instead. A plate of pasta probably costs less than an apple."
The cost of durum flour has soared from 0.26 euro per kilo to 0.45 in the last two months alone.
