MANY Italians stopped buying their beloved pasta yesterday in protest at forthcoming price rises - with consumer groups hailing the boycott as an excellent result.

Italians are in a state of outrage that rising wheat prices mean a plate of spaghetti in the next few months will almost certainly go up, even if by only a few cents, as many families eat pasta every day of the week.

"Pasta, bread, milk - these are the most important things. We are not protesting for perfumes or jewels, but for pasta and bread," said one of demonstrators, Marisa, at a Rome protest.

"It is the government's fault, they've eaten everything."

Justice Minister Clemente Mastella promised to support the cause by skipping his favorite Neapolitan dish of pasta tubes stuffed with tomatoes and ricotta.

But there were few signs of his compatriots making a similar sacrifice at lunchtime, with hungry workers eating their usual pasta dishes at Rome restaurants that ignored the boycott.

"The pasta strike is symbolic, a call for Italians to make a sacrifice - to sacrifice something we can't give up, even when we travel abroad," said Carlo Pileri of the ADOC consumer group.

Pileri said the rise in prices could prevent families from "saving money to buy other products, such as such as shoes, clothes or cars" - three other Italian passions.

Consumer groups said a straw poll of shoppers leaving supermarkets in six cities showed nearly half had not bought pasta by midday.