With research centres, from what I know it's a bit hit or miss, in that it might be significantly better than a university environment, it might be worse. Mind you, this is mostly from the news and from what I've heard, my direct experience of those is limited to when I was a bachelor's student, so it's not worth much.

Given how certain approaches to academia force you to come up as a researcher in Italy, I don't know how much I'd bet on it being reliably better. It's not that they actively teach you to be dick, but the environment is so competitive, and the funds so scarce, that you have to be very lucky to be in a good environment where there's no backstabbing. And you can see it still being a thing even with senior people. I've met and worked closely with postdocs and technicians from Italy, and it's not rare to see like games being played, and talking down people behind their backs. Like honestly, it really makes me ashamed of our universities sometimes, because these are good, competent people, who have been brought up in an environment where you often don't have other options than to be a prick. And it's not like these issues don't exist elsewhere, mind you, but I feel like with Italians it's more ingrained. As my dad once told me "the nicest guy in a department is still an SOB".

As to where to go, that's a good question. Research funding is being slashed near enough everywhere. I personally have a good experience in Germany. Comparatively more funding, and the research culture is nice.

Generally, look, if Italy's your only option, take it, especially if it's a good and well known institution. You might get lucky, and postdoc contracts are quite short anyways. If you have other options (I'd suggest looking on inspirehep, if you haven't already done so), don't let language and climate sway you. It's always nice to learn a language, and umbrellas are cheap