MINI REVIEW article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Social Movements, Institutions and Governance
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1596425
Less State and more solidarity shops: the Italian method of combat food poverty
Provisionally accepted
Fabio Berti*
Andrea Valzania- University of Siena, Siena, Italy
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While global hunger has decreased, particularly in regions traditionally plagued by malnutrition, recent years have seen a rise in food access challenges in countries previously considered immune to such problems. Italy experienced a significant increase in individuals and families requiring food assistance during and after the pandemic. Nevertheless, the primary response to food poverty has been largely left to religious institutions, which have managed the redistribution of food to the most vulnerable segments of the population. Drawing on recent empirical research, this article presents a critical analysis of Italy's approach to combating food poverty, with a focus on the key characteristics and the role of support services provided by Catholic organizations.
Keywords: Food poverty, Catholic associations, Italy, Tuscany, Food support services
Received: 20 Mar 2025; Accepted: 09 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Berti and Valzania. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fabio Berti, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
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