I am an Irishman (back) in Italy for almost 6 years now, but I am married to an Italian woman (from Naples) for 24 years. I speak Italian fluently.
Italy is very beautiful, the food very good (though not as great as people will insist on telling you it is...authentic Chinese is infinitely better), and the architecture spectacular.
But, for positive things, I would stop there.
The rest really is a collection of idiotic superfluities, egotistical hedonism, shallow thinking, the most expensive yet weakest education system in Europe (I am a teacher in a University here, and I am 100% confident that Italians would beat hands down any contest to find the most politically ignorant people in the Western world), there are endless Mommy's boys everywhere - it is far from unusual for 45 year old men to still live with their Momma who does everything except wipe his *** for him, it's absolutely FILTHY here (rubbish everywhere...the landscape is used as a tipping ground for anything and everything), sacred and globally important buildings have 'Loredana, you're a f**king whore' sprayed in big letters on the side of them, politicians are particularly and spectacularly corrupt, the legal system is a joke (except, it's just not funny), Italians are xenophobic in the extreme, women are treated at a level with street whores, everyone wants to rip you off as soon as they hear that you are not a native Italian, nobody knows how to say please or thank you, and try changing $20 to Euro...even in big cities you will NOT find a place that will do it for you without taking 50% in commission.
In short, a nation with no future.