Whenever a question like this- Italians vs the rest- comes up it reminds me of when I bought a custom (steel) frame from Cramerotti.
I specced the frame the way I wanted it... angles, tube lengths, the works. The builder told me 'no' at every turn. When I contended that the frame was to be custom built he said, "Yes, it is custom but yes, it is Italian!"
So, is there REALLY anything special about an Italian? No, not really. They rely heavily on their heritage and proven principles that have since been adopted and improved upon by virtually everyone, yet the Italians don't want to budge. An Italian bike rides like no other, like an Italian.. the same way they rode 50 years ago.
With regards to carbon fiber and aluminum frames, most are built to spec in China or Taiwan and shipped to Italy for final work. Very very few Italian bikes actually have Italian built frames... even if they say Colnago or Pinarello or whatever.
