First, "conversions" don't have legal standing, one way or the other, in Western countries. The discussion of inability to convert was in the context of an academic discussion and there seemed to be only one academic who was the Hindus' bete noire. In fact, the article seemed to be written specifically to rebut the arguments of one academic and then to paint the whole country with his opinion.
Second, Italy is the least of countries that would forbid the building of temples. In any case, I was looking for verification for the HT article and I could find none.
Russia along with the entire Islamic world has refused to recognize Hinduism as a religion.
I dont know about Italy. US, UK, Canada and the netherlands seem to atleast recognize it as a faith.