Move comes amid surge in petrol and diesel prices.

Italy's petrol stations are to hold a strike on 25 and 26 January in protest over claims of speculative price increases at the pumps after Giorgia Meloni's government failed to renew an excise discount at the start of this year.

The two-day strike action was confirmed on Thursday after the latest round of unsuccessful talks between the government and unions representing Italy's gas stations.

The strike will commence at 19.00 on Tuesday 24 January and will last for the subsequent 48 hours, reports state broadcaster RAI News, and will also affect self-service pumps. 

Prices have risen sharply in January since the ending of the discount on fuel excise duties - introduced last March by the previous government of Mario Draghi - in an effort to reduce fuel prices.

In a statement issued on 12 January, associations representing Italy's filling stations said the aim of the strike was to stop the "wave of mud" against a sector of "honest workers" and to "try to restore the truth".

The strike was announced days after the government approved a decree to boost the transparency of fuel prices to stop speculative hikes, obliging petrol stations to display the average national price of fuel alongside the prices they charge.

The measures also include a cap on fuel prices at stations on motorways, with penalties for those who do not comply.

Photo credit: DELBO ANDREA / Shutterstock.com.