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(Bloomberg) — A 27% jump in the price of olive oil is prolonging the cost-of-living shock on Italian families already reeling from lasting increases in the cooking staples that make up Bloomberg’s Pizza Margherita index.

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The condiment found in kitchens across the peninsula is the only one of the five tracked ingredients for the quintessential Naples dish that is still getting more expensive at a faster pace. The overall cost of making a pizza at home has now been at least 20% higher than a year earlier for eight months in a row.

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The enduring surge in the price of olive oil reflects a devastating drought afflicting Spain, the world’s biggest producer, at a time of dry conditions in the rest of southern Europe. 

It shows how even with inflation rates declining and energy-bill increases slowing, Italy remains vulnerable to a range of commodity shocks impacting even the most basic staples for families.

Olive oil has been a part of culinary tradition across the peninsula since before the Romans, who used it for multiple purposes including cosmetics and lamps. 

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Julius Caesar once demanded a quantity in tax from a conquered territory in Africa, and glass bottles containing it were even recovered from Pompeii, the ancient city buried in 79 AD by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Whether homemade fresh from a small-town “frantoio” press or store-bought, olive oil is an essential element of most dishes, particularly in the center and south of Italy. That means its impact goes well beyond pizza, encouraged by the purported health benefits associated with the wider Mediterranean diet.

With pizza inflation still rampant, buying one in store instead of cooking it at home with separate ingredients is a way for families to take less of a hit. The overall cost of that is up only 8.5% on the year, almost in line with inflation.

Here are the price changes of the main ingredients in the Pizza Margherita Index:

• Flour consumer prices rose 17.6% Y/y and 0.5% M/m
• Mozzarella consumer prices rose 26.9% Y/y and 0.8% M/m
• Tomato consumer prices rose 13.4% Y/y and 1.9% M/m
• Olive oil consumer prices rose 27.0% Y/y and 2.2% M/m
• Electricity consumer prices rose 28.0% Y/y but fell 18.4% M/m