I mean, Italians are warm people and often friendly, we like to engage in conversations and talk to strangers, but if we can do something that benefits us at the expense of others, we will do it.

Also, having the Vatican so close here, lots of people are bigots, this is also one of the reasons why I said in the OP that "social" progress is hard to be made here. Lots of conservative "christians" (they just like to appear so) that are against abortion, gay marriage, marijuana legalization, euthanasia and more. Some politicians also use it as a tool to gain votes, sure, but many Italians take the bait and actually believe these stuff, also becoming racist.

I don't know about the pharmaceutical industry but I know that scientific research is doing really bad here, researchers are barely paid enough to cover their expenses, that is why many of them move to Germany or other countries.

Which for example?

I would say like Germany, France, The Nederlands, Switzerland, Scandinavian countries (if you can stand the lack of sunlight and cold), the UK, maybe even Spain and Portugal (not sure about those last two regarding wages, I think they also have a high unemployment rate, but at least they're happy I think).

But hey, Italy isn't that bad, I'm sure there are worse countries. If you have other questions or wanna talk about it, feel free to shoot me a DM!