I wasn’t talking about high end italian cars, I was talking about cars most people use in Italy. Last time I was there I forgot my driving license and was traveling with a friend from the US, we had to rent an automatic Volvo S60 for twice the price of a manual VW or fiat (automatic is rare and in premium cars)

That's an insane price difference. In Switzerland I rented an automatic (for a family member not comfortable with a manual) for only about 10% more, and they had multiple decent options. I suspect automatics may be more common here, though, particularly in the future as electric cars are gaining popularity.

Actually, a lot of cheaper VW group cars now come with the option of DSGs (just ordered a Skoda with a DSG).