"Italy's GDP per capita is something like $35k vs $47k in Germany." Ah, But! There are two Italys. The North and the South. The North is economically and indus

"Italy's GDP per capita is something like $35k vs $47k in Germany." Ah, But! There are two Italys. The North and the South. The North is economically and industrially on par with any other region in Europe, where as the south is poor and ridden with systematic problems. Hence you cannot really speak of Italy in any single context when figuring who it is economically and so on - the regional differences are stark. You can't average these out over the entire country.