Inflation dropped to 1.5% this month from 1.7% in March, national statistics bureau Istat said on Friday, rekindling a long-running row with consumer groups.
Istat said that if the preliminary data were confirmed, the April inflation figures would represent the smallest rise in the consumer price index since 1999.
The bureau highlighted a 10% plunge in prices in the communications sector this month compared to April 2006 and a 5.8% drop in the price of medicines, saying this had helped cool inflation.
But it also noted a 4.4% increase in the price of alcoholic beverages and cigarettes, a 2.7% rise in food prices and a 2.5% hike in housing, water, electricity and fossil fuel prices.
It said the price of fruit was up 4.9% and the price of veg 3.9% compared to April 2006 while train fares were up 6.9% and ferry fares a whopping 11.7%.
Industry Minister Pierluigi Bersani hailed the overall figure for April saying that "curbing inflation is essential for encouraging consumer spending and economic growth".
But consumer groups, who have been contesting Istat's inflation analyses since the 2002 introduction of the euro, immediately challenged the April statistics.
Consumer rights' associations Adusbef and Federconsumatori said that "the 1.5% figure would be excellent news if only it corresponded to reality".
"Istat's figures remain a mystery, starting from the year 2002 when there was a failure to monitor prices following the arrival of the euro," they said.
The groups called on the government to examine the methods used to collect inflation data at a local level in order to "guarantee correctness and transparency".
Trade unions also weighed in, sarcastically describing the April data as "miraculous".
Consumer groups, trade unions and the media maintain that prices have shot up in Italy since the January 2002 switch from the lira to the euro.
They say the prices of many items have doubled, with retailers and restaurants treating one euro like the old 1,000 lire - instead of almost 2,000 old lire.
But statisticians and economists are equally convinced that the euro changeover has had only a small impact on inflation.
Istat has staunchly defended the credibility of its data while maintaining that the methodology used by independent researchers claiming a soaring inflation rate is unscientific.
