Actually, I think it’s the pasta, oil and cheese. Plus they fry everything, breaded.
I am married to an Italian family (although I no longer see them), but everything they cooked was soaked in oil, salt, breaded, fried. Vegetables were never steamed...they always had to be done in a fattening way, for flavour. Many of the women didn’t drink much wine, and they were heavy, but that could also be too much cortisol because of the stress....but that’s another subject.
LOL -- agita! It's stressful having to remember how many and what type of catastrophes and illnesses every member of the extended family (natural and adopted) are coping (badly) with! Not even to mention who froze her pizzelli a month before Christmas -- you could taste the difference! It was a sin! It almost ruined the whole festa!