Consumers at the Rome branch of Swedish multinational household goods firm IKEA have been taken by surprise this week.

Prices are all written up large in euros, with their lira equivalent added on in small print below.

IKEA has simply reversed the existing euro-zone trend of dual pricing.

Until now, however, it has been the euro that has been in the small print.

Despite the fact that Italians have been looking at euro price tags for at least two years, there remains much doubt as to just how prepared Italian institutions, retailers and consumers - not to mention cash dispensers - are for the changeover, due on January 1st, 2001.

In the build-up to yesterday's Frankfurt launch of the euro bank-notes, Italian daily newspapers have been offering guidelines about life after the euro.

For a start, Italians will have to abbreviate their cheque-writing style. Anyone making out a cheque for 1,750,550 lire (€904) will now have to write only three words (nove-cento-quattro) in place of the previous nine (un - milione - sette - cento - cinquanta - milaci - nque - cento - cinquanta) in the space reserved for the amount in words.

Newspapers all carry draconian warnings, reminding Italians that cheques must be written in euros after January 1st but reassuring everyone that the Banca d'Italia will change lire for another 10 years.

Inevitably, in a country where it is routine practice for staff in bars and at supermarket checkouts to run large banknotes through a mini-scanner before accepting them, there is concern about counterfeit euros being put into circulation.

Colonel Carlo Mori of the Italian police's anti-forgery unit, however, dismisses the danger.

"The new banknotes are the most sophisticated ever produced, both in terms of the paper and the metal used.

"It won't be easy to reproduce them; it's a job for super experts equipped with the most expensive and up-to-date machinery.

"No doubt, they'll give it a try, but we're ready for them."