Wow. Just Wow.

I've done a fair amount of travel in my time, not as much as a lot of people, but a fair amount.  I've even been to Italy and experienced the ridiculousness of Rome's airport (for example, you go through security, then you go through it again to get to a satellite terminal.  If, when you get there, you find out that there is no food or shopping, you can always go back to the main terminal...and go back through security), but this is absolutely insane.  I can say one thing with 100% confidence: after hearing this story, it would take nothing short of an act of God to get me to fly Alitalia.  That includes flights on Delta, AirFrance, et al that are codeshares on Alitalia aircraft.  Of course, if Delta gifted me some insane amount of miles (I'm thinking north of 100,000) I might do it, but I don't know that I would for a free flight.  Let me excerpt just a few of the myriad misfortunes he had:

...I had no idea, though, that I had purchased my ticket from the worst airline company in the world – Italy’s national carrier Alitalia – and that a two-hour layover in Rome would turn into an ordeal that lasted longer than a week...
...Our flight was delayed again another three hours, and the man and woman and the flight counter put on their coats and walked away...
...So what did he do? He put on his coat and walked off the job. Hundreds of furious paying passengers booed and hissed as he left...
...She looked at me, then looked away without even acknowledging that I had said anything...
...She nodded, appeared slightly embarrassed, and walked away without saying a word...
...Suddenly the man who was processing our tickets stood up, put on his coat, and walked off the job, without handing us boarding passes and without saying a word...

I don't want to excerpt too much because it's really a story that should be read in its entirety.  Afterwards you'll feel significantly better about the relative competence of US airlines, despite all the ridiculous fees and occasional delays you face.  At the end of the day, at least they will get you from point A to point B and/or compensate you for your inconvenience.