Old woes and new: business turmoil awaits Italy's election winner

Workers Igor Moresi, Marco Piantoni and Jacopo Calabresi pose for a photo outside the 'Acciai Speciali Terni' steel mill which has been crippled by soaring gas and electricity costs as inflation, looming recession and impossibly high energy bills are set to be on top of the next government's agenda whoever wins the Sept. 25 elections in Terni, Italy, September 20, 2022. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

Inflation, looming recession and impossibly high energy bills are among the daunting economic problems awaiting whoever wins Italy's election on Sunday, and they are casting a particularly long shadow over the industrial city of Terni.

According to Milan-based economic think-tank Cerved some 24.5% of Terni's 16,000 firms are at risk of bankruptcy in the near term, the second highest level of any place in the country after Crotone in the depressed southern region of Calabria.