Genuine question what makes you say that?
What type of racism have you seen or experienced from Italians?
I'd be happy to share. This was 2 years ago I was in Lugano with a friend and wanted to travel to Milan, Turin, and Venice since I had never been to Italy. I had 4 incidents happen to me in 5 days.
1) At the first Italian city I arrive at crossing over the Swiss-Italian border on route to Milan (I don't remember of the city) I am awakened by Italian police on the train. At first this seemed pretty normal as in Switzerland attended usually check your tickets. There were 2 policeman. The first one asks me for my train ticket. Given he just woke me up, I start you search around for my passport and train ticket. While this is happening, the second policeman looks at my backpack (which is in a seat in between them and me) and become suspicious over a small bottle of attached to it. He starts motioning to other officer and I sorta chuckle b/c it was only hand sanitizer. The moment the first officer hears me chuckle, he gets agitated and starts forcefully telling me to produce my passport and train ticket immediately. The second he saw my nationality on my passport, the agitated look is wiped off his face, he hands me my passport and leaves. This can happen to anyone, but I watched them walk through 2 cabins without checking anyone's train ticket except for one other person: another black guy.
2) Fast forward a bit to when I'm leaving Italy 5 days later. The pretty much the same thing happens in the same city as I'm about to cross the border to Switzerland. This time I'm not sleeping and I see the police officers outside, so I'm ready for it. The officers were actually polite but I simply ignored their request for my train ticket and just showed my passport and they quickly went on their way: again I was the only person who was asked to produce their ticket (contrasting these experiences to a place say like Swtizerland where everyone is checked regardless of skin color)
3) I'm in Milan in a place called Navigili or something of the sort. There is a river running through it with shops and restaurants on either side. I look for the restaurant witht he least amount of tourists and sit down to eat. There was a British or Australian couple sitting close to me so I wasn't the only foreigner. To make a long story short, the waiter is just plain rude. It's clear to me that I'm the least of his concerns. I had to go inside to ask for water and the check. He only comes to my table three times: for my order, to bring the food, and to take my card haha. Everyone around me is getting the treatment you expect. I hand him my card and he asks to see my ID. I hand him my passport and his demeanor changes. He tries to talk to me a little but I just sign and leave.
4) I'm in a bar near the place above. It's about 8pm. I sit down at the bar and start talking to the bartender who I realize used to like in the US, so his english is good. The conversation is pleasant. I order a drink and attempt to pay but he tells me just to pay when I am about to leave. I'm fine with it and by my observation this is a common thing at this bar. A waitress brings me a drink. While at the bar I strike up a conversation with a lady who speaks really good English and I am invited to the small porch to meet her friends (it's a small bar and the porch is probably no more than 10 meters away). 10 minutes later (with drink still in hand) the same waitress who gave me the drink starts asking me something in Italian motioning towards my drink. Of course I can't understand, but the lady I'm talking with informs me she wants to know if I paid for my drink. I'm pretty confused and try to explain I have a tab open. She doesn't understand and keeps motioning to my drink. I walk inside and spot the bartender I'm was talking to. I explain the situation and he instantly looks embarrassed. I guess he tells her not to worry in Italian, and he apologizes and tells me she was confused, but I hand him my card and tell him just to close out. Before I leave I talk with the lady from earlier and she tells me that they always pay after they are finished b/c the tab is kept up front. I didn't notice anyone else who was asked to pay on the spot.
I have other soft accounts and things I've heard from Italians and blacks (especially Africans living in Italy), but I can only go off my experiences that seemed like obvious signs of racial profiling. With that said, I'm not saying and never said all Italians are the racists (or even most of them) and met some pretty helpful and easy-going Italians, but it doesn't change the fact that those 4 instances in 5 days (along with the other soft accounts) has never happened to me in another country.
Lastly, there is a difference between genuine curiosity in seeing a person of an unfamiliar race (for example in Turkey a guy stopped me to take a picture with his family, in Mexico City and man stopped me to take a picture with his daughter, and in Argentina a little girl said in surprise to her mother "Look Mom, he's black!" haha) and someone treating a different race with disdain and suspicion.
P.S. - There are actually countries that treat foreigners of a different race better than people of their race, but it's for different reasons.