High fuel costs keeping Italian families at home

The high cost of fuel has kept families from travelling this summer, according to a study released Tuesday. Almost one Italian family in four decided to take vacations close to home this year, to avoid the high costs of filling up the family car, says the study by consumer group Coldiretti. It found that 22% of those surveyed cut down on driving because of higher petrol and diesel costs - fuelled in part by rising taxes. Italians cut their consumption of petrol and diesel by 9.3% in the first eight months of this year, according to a separate study that concluded Italians still spent almost 3.4 billion euros more on fuel than in the same period last year.