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Italy is a medium sized regional power, in the midst of rebuilding its economy post-ww2. It is based in southern Europe and is placed strategically between the WP and NATO, of which it is a member of.
Italy shares borders with the following nations:
Italy has only one colony and that is Italian Somaliland which is a poor nation but does have Uranium ore which could prove useful if you choose to go the nuclear route with either weapons or power plants or both.
Italy has some land based oil reserves in various places across the country, it is advised that you build on these for extra income whilst you build up the economy which is short of pretty much everything, except for consumer goods and agriculture. It is also advised that you build up your industrial goods base as you start out with a pitiful amount of production (less then 1000 tons per day)and these will be useful for keeping your consumer goods plants running. Consumer goods are likely to make the bulk of your exports, so expanding this inline with the industries that supply them is a good idea.
Italy starts off with a very small surplus, so a massive building program at the beginning cannot be afforded. You should try and correct it as it is possible to have a tax rate of about 50% and still have social programs funded to about 75%. Make sure you max out the funding for infrastructure, then try and max out the funding for healthcare and education, as they will give your economy a good boost in production.
Italy starts with much of its equipment of WW2 antiquity. You start off with the following production:
The navy has 3 Battleships at the beginning of the game. Italy does not have any aircraft carriers, nor any designs to produce any of them. But they do have a good range of destroyers, cruisers and frigates with which to re-equip the navy.
The navies primary role is to lock down the Mediterranean by deploying units to blockade the WP's Adriatic ports, as well as deploying units to the Dardenelles, Red sea/Suez and Gibralter in order to stop/destroy as many WP Merchant Marines as possible.
The airforce starts out with very few aircraft, many of which are just single squadrons. You get some Thunderbolts and some Spitfire Fighter bombers as well as some Centaro Fighter's. You have a good number of designs for fighters and tactical bombers but do lack equipment for most of the other classes, which means that you will have to look towards your NATO allies for better designs and designs to fill empty classes.
This also starts out poorly equiped, with a lot of mountain divisions and mountain artillery pieces, as well as some Shermans. Much of the equipment is badly out of date, and is probably good for selling to your allies if they need the troops, in return for more cash to support your economic reconstruction.
You begin as part of the NATO alliance, and start with treaties with the other NATO allies which can be built upon easily to become full alliances between you and them, which will allow you to get much better stuff from them for a better price. You can also get easy alliances with NATO freindly nations such as Japan and South Korea as these nations are also good allies to have.
Italy is neither the best nor the worst nation in the world technology wise. This means that you will have access to many techs from your NATO allies, which can help you to catch up a bit, but seriously consider expanding your research base, as you only start with 2 slots, which is inadequete for the size and needs of your nation.
You will have access to NATO unit designs such as the Starfighter (multi role), UH-1N (transport) and the Chinock. Italy also has its own region code and has designs (later on for land) for ships and planes that were designed in country, such as the Impala (FB) and the Andrea Doria (CL).