Then you must not have visited Genoa. My good friend, American of Italian descent, married a girl from there blond and green eyed, while there, I noticed there were a lot of Italians with similar features.
Incidently, I'm Italian on my mother's side, and Sicilian on my fathers side. The Sicilians are most definitely darker people, for the most part, compared to the natives on the boot.
I have no interest in visiting Italy and do not find Blond haired and either blue or green eyes to be the usual.
Good grief!
I think nmh is just having a bad day....you are right.