Catholic religion has been the founding religion of the medieval Europe . I hope that I don't have to remind you that , in ancient times, kings were crowned by Popes in France and UK. All other variations of Christian religions were created as a result of struggle powers. In the 14-15th centuries Italians were leading innovators and bankers from Florence were lending money to England and France kings. Back in that time the most common Language in business Europe was a derivation of Italian. Italy is one of the foundation of Western Europe, both historically and culturally. Denying this is ignoring history.

P.S: I guess that children in Italy were running and screaming quite a lot also at the time...