Truck at rest, at sunset

In Italy road freight transport is worth about 13% of GDP and employs over 1 million workers. It is a structurally driver-short sector: in 2024 around 22,000 professional drivers were missing, largely covered by workers from Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Maghreb.

60% of labour inspections in the logistics sector in 2023 found irregularities: illegal sub-contracting, sub-CCNL wages, overrun driving hours, missed rest periods. The chain of sub-contracts shatters the principal's accountability.

Between 2010 and 2024 the Italian surface covered by logistics hubs has doubled, from 18 to over 36 million square metres: the 'logistics periphery' is today one of the most visible components of the Po Valley and Emilian-plain landscape.

The warehouse yard, the motorway service area, the inland container terminal: non-places of transit, where goods stop and people pass, and where labour is arranged to leave no mark.