1. They aren't the vaunted Romans of antiquity: a variegated class of peoples have occupied some or all of Italy since the Empire's fall (Ostrogoths, Lombards, Arabs, Berbers, Normans, Austrians, French), spreading their seed and thus severely diluting or outright eliminating the Roman genome.
2. They have an extremely beta military tradition: they dithered during World War I and switched allegiance to the winning side; they barely defeated a bunch of Ethiopian tribes in the 1930s, resorting to chemical weapon use; they launched a sneak attack against France after millions of that nation's troops had been surrounded by the Nazis and still lost; they were defeated by Greek and Albanian peasants in the Balkans; 500 thousand plus Italians couldn't defeat a small group of Indian and South African divisions under the Brits in North Africa and Ethiopia, instead surrendering; and, they are the only country to surrender three times in a war (to the Allies in 1943, to the Germans after they invaded soon after, and to the Allies again at war's end).
3. Italian food is extremely overrated. Real pizza sucks. If you ever go to Italy and sample the real stuff, it is very plain. In fact, all of Italy has food just like the Olive Garden, except that it ends up tasting better because the raw ingredients are superior.
4. They are one of the PIIGS nations of Eurozone crisis fame, proving that they can't for the life of them keep their financial house in order. Real men handle money responsibly.
5. Those "guys" on the Jershey Shore are Italian. Enough said.
Hope this helps