Consumer groups and trade unions urged the government to help struggling families after Italy's inflation rate rose to a four-year high of 2.6% in December.
Price curbs and income boosts were among the measures proposed after statistics institute Istat reported year-on-year rises of 12.3% for bread, 8.4% for pasta, 11.7% for petrol, 7.6% for milk, 3.5% for meat and 4.8% for fruit.
''With the cost of living at this level and record oil prices, the number of households on the poverty line could double, reaching five million,'' said the head of the Codacons consumer association, Carlo Rienzi.
''The government must declare a state of emergency on prices if it wants to avert a disaster,'' Rienzi said.
Codacons suggested a series of measures to help people make ends meet.
They included ''cash hand-outs for food staples, blanket inspections (of prices) in shops and markets, increased competition in all sectors, starting with energy, and persuading retailers to drop prices by 5-10%''.
Another consumer protection group, Adiconsum, called on the government to act ''urgently'' to boost real wages and introduce price curbs.
The group's president, Paolo Landi, claimed the situation was worse than that indicated by Istat.
''Istat does not completely record the loss of purchasing power,'' he said, adding that ''the trend which has seen inflation rise from 1.7% in July to 2.6% in December is bound to get worse because of higher energy costs''.
A third group, Adusbef-Federconsumatori, openly rejected Istat's official estimate of the 2007 inflation rate of 1.8%, accusing the institute of persisting in ''shocking'' miscalculations that dated back to the price shocks that followed Italy's entry into the euro zone in 2002.
Last year's actual inflation rate was something in the range of 3.4-3.5%, it said, calling for Istat to be reformed to ''reflect the reality of Italian families''.
Italy's three trade union federations, CGIL, CISL and UIL, echoed the consumer groups' calls.
CGIL said scheduled talks with the government on January 8 ''have become even more urgent in the light of these data''.
''The wage issue must take centre stage,'' it said, calling for ''structural intervention at the fiscal level'' as well as price controls.
CGIL leader Guglielmo Epifani said ''taxes on fixed wages must be cut, along with prices and rates''.
CISL leader Raffaele Bonanni told ANSA that the federations, who have already threatened a general strike over wage policy, would be pushing Premier Romano Prodi to raise take-home pay and freeze petrol duties.
''Prodi must realise that we have a problem with wages and pensions,'' he said, calling for a return to an aggressive incomes policy.
Bonanni also stressed that ''liberalisation of services is essential because there is no competition in many sectors''.
The UIL union said ''there is an ever widening gap between wages, pensions and the price of living''.
A poll released by the Coldiretti farmers union said three-quarters of Italians have changed their eating habits, cutting down on bread, pasta and meat.
Another poll, from the Coop group, said more than 50% of the population were worried about not being able to make ends meet.
