It was an historic high for sales. An absolute record for the trade surplus as well. Italy's December exports have decisively raised the full year tally, bringing the progress of 2016 to 1.1%, a result that would have been unimaginable just a few months ago.

The monthly uptick (+5.7% year-on-year), according to Istat, is even a cautious calculation because using comparable workdays year-over-year, the increase would have been 8.5%. Significant increases in strictly numerical terms but even more significant if you look at what makes it up—it's the result of a unified progress both in terms of sectors and geography. The locomotive, as it was for all of 2016, was still, once again, Europe (+7.4%), even if the gap with the rest of the EU (+4.1) is finally starting to close.