Two possibilities : 1. Italy is seen as a fairly conservative EU country, which has been more supportive of GWB than most EU members.
2. Italy has the EU's highest proportion of Muslims at 13% of the population (it and Spain are the highest ; the rest of the EU ranges from 5-8%. This is in contrast to the US, where no more than 2% is Muslim, and even that's been said to be an overestimate.)The high number of Muslims would make it difficult for the Italian government if that 13% , or a fairly large percentage thereof, were to run amuck in response to anything their "muslim brothers" were to do. IOW, they can celebrate in the streets with impunity, same as if they were in Egypt or Iraq.
I had heard before that France had the highest. But if Italy has 13%, that's getting up there. I think it was Daniel Pipes who pointed out that once the moslem population gets to 10-15% in any country, then the real trouble is just beginning.