Not sure if this will help anyone here much but it just happened so may be worth knowing about for Americans traveling to Italy...
ITA Airways - Italy's flag carrier and the surviving descendant of the former Alitalia - is based in Rome and flies around the world (though only to a few cities in North America). ITA is in the process of "switching teams" in the world of airline alliances, from Skyteam (Delta, Air France et al) to Star Alliance (United, Lufthansa, etc.). One consequence of that is that ITA flights just became bookable (in the past 24 hours) via United Airlines. Aside from its long, international routes, ITA can be handy for shorter connections throughout Europe and domestic flights within Italy.
As luck would have it, I'm flying on United from the US to Rome next week (on United), then connecting on a separate ticket from Rome to Bari (on ITA) to begin our trip to Puglia. Turns out, as of last night, I could book a single ticket all the way (even using miles). So if you are looking at flights to somewhere in Italy, and you have a reason to favor booking through United (eg if you're booking an award flight with points, or just want a single ticket all the way to your medium- or small-sized destination in Italy), you might be able to get there with a ticket issued by United, which includes a leg on ITA.
When I booked our flight to Puglia many months ago, that was not an option for us (though it is now). In my case, I've decided not to re-do all our flights 6 days before we depart (to minimize the churn at this late date), though last night I checked and found to my surprise that I could just cancel my existing flights (including a separate ticket booked on ITA) and rebook it all through United...we would even save a little bit. (But I decided to stick to our original flights even though it was tempting to make the switch.)
Anyway, bottom line: ITA is now bookable through their (new-ish) partner United. I suspect (though have not confirmed) that the ability to book ITA flights via Delta and other Skyteam partners has become diminished or eliminated as this team-switch continues (airlines are like that, if you're on their team, they don't want you to be too cozy with their rival team).
If you fly United (and if you use United miles to do so), and especially if you're going to smaller-market airports, this may make it a little easier/smoother to get to/around Italy.