Nah, it definitely varies in like a culture sense. Romes so big it’s not worth a cops time to try and police all the smoking that goes on , but definitely still could if they wanted to. In terms of the weed shops, they look like dispensaries but I can assure you they are not. Basically hemp is totally legal and anything under a certain thc content ( i think 2% ?) is legal. So to trick tourists and others a lot of these “pot shops” exist but they just sell overpriced pipe gear and hemp that will give you a headache not a high.

I lived near Venice for a long time and if you got caught smoking it was basically 50/50 if they were gonna crush it in front of you to get loss or through the book at you. depending on the city that 50/50 will change.

Not worth the risk imo

Source: anecdotal experiences, current partner is italian, lived there for 3 years, still visit from time to time.