The euro may already be old hat in most of the 12nation euro zone, but it has yet to make its debut in a remote Italian island hamlet, prompting residents to request a reprieve for the old lira.
The currency has yet to reach Ginostra, which lies at the foot of one of Europe's most active volcanoes on the Mediterranean island of Stromboli and can only be reached by boat.
The 30 locals have long lived without electricity, but they never expected to live without the new single currency, which entered circulation on January 1 and is due to replace the lira completely by February 28.
"We have always lived in isolation but we are shocked about the euro matter because we expected different treatment given the importance of the event," Gianluca Giuffre, 19, who runs the town's only bar with his father, told Reutersby telephone.
Officials say bad weather has prevented boats dropping off the new euro notes and coins. Yet, ironically, euroconverter calculators have been shipped in.
In the euro's absence, the townspeople of Ginostra have sent a letter to the government to demand that the lira remain legal tender beyond the end-of-February deadline.