Oh, we had the Dark Ages in Italy too: roads became unsafe and eventually disappeared; there were constant wars, which resulted in people literally running for the hills, building towns in places that were easy to fortify rather than easy to reach (as it had happened in peaceful Roman times), which collapsed the economy even further; and aqueducts fell into disrepair (triggering epidemics). The population dropped, especially in locations hard to defend - Rome itself crumbled into ruins; aristocratic culture became predominantly martial, and artisanal classes shrunk dramatically because of the economic collapse. Manuscripts were burnt or locked up in monasteries, as the Church claimed exclusive rights to all cultural activity.

This only improved when the Mediterranean coastal cities managed to build up enough military strength to ensure a reasonable degree of safety over pirate-infested sea routes, "rebooting" the economic landscape. Their contacts with the now-consolidated Islamic states eventually resulted in the "rediscovery" of classical knowledge, that Islamic scholars had preserved (and built upon) in superior ways.

It's true that there was some technological progress even during the Middle Ages, but it was largely limited to immediately-practical purposes: agriculture and war.