According to Luttwak, the so-called Islamic State has not successfully attacked Italy because the Italians are much more competent at counter-terrorism than other Europeans:
… the Italians differ drastically from the French or Belgians or British, who keep monitoring suspects, filling ample files with lots of reports, photographs, videos, and intercept print-outs, as if they were biographers of the most encyclopedic kind.
The Italians by contrast take action the moment the very first indication comes in. This is sometimes a phone or e-mail intercept, and sometimes a tip-off from an agent (Italy invests modestly but steadily in the foreigners it recruits). But more often it is a friend who reports someone for speaking of jihad, for swearing that he will kill for Hamas, join the Islamic State or do something else.
What follows is an expert interrogation. Many are soon sent home, classified as mere boasters if they turn meek. Those who are proud to be militant are held, and their records are minutely examined to find any criminal infraction for which they can be arrested, tried and imprisoned (unlike the French who treat militant petty thieves as petty thieves, not as militants). If any faults are found in the immigration paperwork, they are deported -- even if they have become Italian citizens -- a measure applied to several vehement imams (181 more imams are currently in prison).
With these methods, the number to be followed 24/7 falls to manageable levels -- the key to the success of the entire system.
Source:
Edward N. Luttwak, Doing counterterrorism right, Nikkei Asian Review, November 30, 2015.
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OTHER ANSWERS
Andrea Torti
Andrea Torti, lives in Italy
Written 27 Jul 2016
Unlike other European Countries (France, Germany, etc.) - Italy has held a low profile in anti-IS political and military operations.
Also, years of both left- and right-wing domestic terrorism and organized crime might have given Italy’s intelligence personnel an edge over their European counterparts.
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Fabio Bellobono
Fabio Bellobono, I'm Italian
Written 29 Jul 2016
I hope it stays that way, but there are contrasting opinions on why nothing has happened yet. (since september 11th pretty much every european country has been hit by terror attacks, not Italy) The more optimistic ones claim that the Italian intelligence is doing an extremely good work and is advanced with respect to their western counterparts. (internal terrorism in the past decades and constant investigations about mafia might have given them an edge) Some people planning to hit Italy, have been intercepted and secured to justice.
The more realistic reasons might be the following: if they hit Italy, they would hit a major hub for migrants. Terrorists can’t lose such an important access point to Europe. That’s a huge risk. Even more realistically, because Italy are acting in a much more “relaxed” way in fighting the IS with respect to Germany or France. What we are doing is mostly instruct the Peshmerga fighters and provide some logistic support. But still, an attack in Italy could still be a possibility.
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Enrico Wayna Capecelatro
Enrico Wayna Capecelatro, Researcher about how to live healthy
Updated yesterday
We can't be sure about that because it's a confidential matter but I would consider the following key points:
Italian intelligence had to fight against pretty strong terroristic forces in the past, and still today Mafia is infiltrated into pretty much everything: politics, firms, goods shippings and so on. This situation brought a lot of know how to the intelligence.
From the point above we could imagine that the intelligence could even try to give favours in exchange of information from criminal organizations. Nonetheless, criminal organizations want a free way to make business into the country, so too much troubles from foreigners mean troubles for them! Thus, they could actually do the job even before the intelligence.
Italy is a strategic hub in the Mediterranean sea. Keeping this hub clear could be an important asset for terroristic organizations.
An attack against Italy would mean an attack against the Vatican, the heart of the Church, at least symbolically, which could allow Europe to strongly counterattack possible sources of terrorism.
Last but not least... and this one is just to to downplay the issue... terrorists could find Italy a pretty good place to live (weather, food, loose rules). So... let’s put away bombs and relax
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