As riffraff says, corruption isn't a problem for internet companies, really. Especially seeing as how most of them are in the north, which, while still not being a model of squeaky clean, is much better than the south.
The problems in Italy for an internet company are 1) bureaucracy 2) the fact that many potential employees are going to value stability over the good things about startups 3) fairly high cost of living in many places (Milan is expensive and an armpit - hot and humid and smoggy in the summer, cold and clammy in the winter).
That said, there are an awful lot of bright and creative people here. I hope that we'll see that potential unlocked sooner, rather than later.
BTW, here's a more in-depth article about Italy's problems, although some of them are not so applicable to internet startups:
The problems in Italy for an internet company are 1) bureaucracy 2) the fact that many potential employees are going to value stability over the good things about startups 3) fairly high cost of living in many places (Milan is expensive and an armpit - hot and humid and smoggy in the summer, cold and clammy in the winter).
That said, there are an awful lot of bright and creative people here. I hope that we'll see that potential unlocked sooner, rather than later.
BTW, here's a more in-depth article about Italy's problems, although some of them are not so applicable to internet startups:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/business/global/01italy.ht...