From 1 September parents of children at secondary and superior school (the old scuola media and the liceo and technical schools) should be able to order their children's books via internet. The books will then be delivered by the post office. As neither the ministry for education nor the post office sells books, orders will be handled by Mondadori, the publishers and distributors.

Payment for the books can be made by credit card, on receipt of the books or with a payment at the post office. Those who have a bank account at the post office will be able to ask for a loan of up to 1,000 to pay for the books, with the loan repayable within a year at 7.5 per cent interest.

So far only 50 Roman schools are taking part but more may join up by September.

For information see www.poste.it.