The Italian education system is struggling to recover from the epidemic, and it appears to have stabilized at structurally lower performance levels than in the past. This is the verdict of the 2026 INVALSI tests, which periodically measure Italian students' learning levels, presented by the institute's director Roberto Ricci with a bitter observation: "It appears that the system has settled lower". Despite the government's extraordinary plans and the significant investments made under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), the recovery of fundamental skills—Italian, mathematics, and English—remains stagnant, exhibiting only minor fluctuations that suggest stagnation. The most significant development this year concerns what has long been the pinnacle of Italian education: primary school. Second- and fifth-grade kids' performance has deteriorated significantly, notably in mathematics. While it is challenging for experts to identify a specific cause for this decline, the INVALSI report suggests that it is linked to the increasing challenge of teaching to adjust to the rapid demographic, social, and cultural changes that are reshaping the student population of the country. Regional differences remain in the background, albeit with new dynamics. Southern Italy is exhibiting tentative signs of progress thanks to the government's "Agenda Sud" project, which has produced results in elementary and middle schools, lowering the proportion of disadvantaged kids. However, the plan's outcomes in high schools continue to be patchy: although Campania, Basilicata, and Calabria are doing well, Sicily is suffering, and Sardinia is declining dramatically. Some relief comes from the last year of high school, where the proportion of students achieving a passing standard has slowly climbed back above the psychological threshold of 50% - an improvement on last year's historic low of 49%, but still a long way from the 61% recorded before the Covid pandemic.