Minitalia series is a real rarity in the LEGO world as it was only produced for a very short period of time, in the mid-1970s and only in Italy.
This is one of the main reasons why the number of boxes in circulation is very small. To comply with the complicated Italian import laws of the time, almost all the bricks were produced in Italy, even the period of acute energy crisis imposed a production devoted to savings so that all the bricks were made with a poorer plastic that made them different from other LEGOs in many respects. For example, these bricks did not have bright colors like those made directly from LEGO and the brand was not applied on the upper part which was made with cavities to save plastic, furthermore in the underlying part there was very often an “x” instead of the traditional “o”. These differences were only applied in Italy for these rare boxes. However, in some packages, parts not produced in Italy have also been included as for the hulls of ships made with better plastics for color and brilliance. So even the poor quality of the plastic used has made a further contribution to making this series rare. Minitalia boxes currently in excellent condition are very few. There were 21 packs of which 2 very rare with doors, windows and shutters, identical to those of the other Minitalia series but in better color and plastic.