From yesterday morning Apple’s new iPhone 4 is finally available in Italy.

The launch was accompanied by the usual queues of enthusiastic users who waited from Thursday night the opening of the Apple Stores eager to grab the new phone by the Cupertino company.

In Rome’s Apple Store the iPhone was already sold out at 11 in the morning after around 3000 units were already purchased. In Milan (Carugate) there have been reports of a fight breaking out because the supplies weren’t enough to satisfy the request from customers who had been queueing up for hours.

However, there seem to be resistances expressed by Italian buyers which are to be found, more than in the whole Antennagate issue, in the embarrassingly high price of the device.

The 16 GB model starts at 659 Euros, the equivalent of about $ 856, a price that’s far too high even for a country like Italy, where the circulation of iPhone among fanatics is something like 1.2 million units, with an average penetration of 1 every 50 inhabitants (Corriere Blog).

The alternative is buying the iPhone 4 at a way lower cost or even getting it for “free” taking advantage of the many different offers by phone carriers (3, Vodafone, Tim). The downside is the mandatory subscription plan with questionable economic viability in the medium term.

Probably the best solution for those unwilling to spend all that money at once is to buy an unlocked iPhone in an Apple store taking advantage of financing solution.

However, we’ll wait for more in-depth analysis of sales numbers in order to evaluate what will happen in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!