The European Commission's “Investing in Education 2025” report has portrayed a worrying situation for Italy in the landscape of public investment in education. The country ranks last among EU member states in terms of percentage of spending, with just 7.3% against an average of 9.6% for the EU. The position in the ratio of educational investment to national wealth does not improve: Italy ranks third to last in the ratio of public education spending to GDP, surpassing only Romania and Ireland with 3.9% against an average of 4.7% for the EU. Comparison with pre-pandemic data shows a significant retreat: in 2019, Italy was allocating 8.2% of public spending and 4% of GDP to education. The Italian decline is more pronounced than the European trend. The report highlights how the strategy of investing in education is a distinctive element of national policies, with direct effects on the future economic competitiveness of individual states.