Now for a few facts.
In June, 1858, I travelled through the Mediterranean provinces, taking notes as I went along.

I established the fact that in one township the bread cost nearly three-halfpence a pound, while in another, some twelve miles off, it was to be had for a penny.

It follows that the carriage of goods along twelve miles of road cost a farthing a pound.
At Sonnino bad wine was sold for sevenpence the _litre_, while the same quantity of passable wine might be had at Pagliano, thirty miles off, for twopence halfpenny; so the cost of carrying an article weighing some two pounds for thirty miles was fourpence halfpenny.
Wherever governments make roads, prices naturally find their level.
I may be told that I explored remote and out-of-the-way districts.

If we approach the capital, we find the matters still worse.

The nearest villages to Rome have not roads fit for carriages from one to the other.