Nobody pays 55% in income taxes in Italy, the highest bracket is 43©, and of course that only applies to the part of your income above €75k. Possibly they were

Nobody pays 55% in income taxes in Italy, the highest bracket is 43©, and of course that only applies to the part of your income above €75k. Possibly they were receiving 45% net, which is plausible but that is because you are paying for pension and social security, not income taxes. It is true anyway that IT is vastly underpaid in Italy compared to the rest of the world, and that the agenzia delle entrate is insanely harsh.