italy is way cool. here is why:
2 tanks in bulgaria/ epl or 2 inf in EPL with ftr in range will nullify the effect of a 1inf russian blitzblocker in EUK and BEL. that means whenever theese units are in range, russia cant press germany with north/south push from KAR,BST / CAU,UKR . this eases fighting for gerrmany alot imho, as it ristricts the red army.
of course italy will have to get their NOs as often as possible but how you do that really depends on what british / US are doing.
but i prefer italy pumping out ground units as much as possible. maybe a trn+ inf round one is best. this way you get 12 units at end of turn 3 to africa.