Terni

Healy was part of a 12-man breakaway on the 207km stage from Terni to Fossombrone.

“I’m not ashamed to say I cried the entire drive from Terni to Rome,” he said.

According to Milan-based economic think-tank Cerved some 24.5% of Terni's 16,000 firms are at risk of bankruptcy in the near term, the second highest level of any place in the country after Crotone in the depressed southern region of Calabria.

In common with most young Italians, job security has been a mirage for Jacopo Calabresi, 31, another worker sent home from Terni's steel mill.

In the current situation even Terni's most successful companies are feeling the pinch.