Even on the front of domestic production, Italy's search for alternatives to Russian gas is beginning to bear fruit. In fact, a gas field is about to open in the municipality of Budrio, in the vicinity of Bologna - where an Eni deposit that had been exploited for nearly three decades but halted in 1984 - will resume production. In short, it is not a true discovery, but it is a rare and notable event in Italy. The energy crisis has sparked interest even within the government in regaining greater self-sufficiency in hydrocarbons, but there has been no progress toward the goal of increasing national gas production from the current 3.3 billion cubic meters per year. The announcement of the start of production in Budrio from the Podere Maiar-1 well came quietly, through a couple of press releases that went almost unnoticed because they were transmitted by companies listed on the stock exchange thousands of kilometers from Italy: the Australian Po Valley Energy, which celebrated in Sydney with a stock rise of more than 10%, and the British Prospex, which has gained more than 8% on the AIM list in London. These two foreign companies have accomplished the half-miracle of overcoming the bureaucratic complexities and mistrust of drilling – phenomena not unique to Italy, but here more pronounced than elsewhere – in order to cross the finish line of production with all the necessary authorizations and the full approval of local institutions.