Answer: I'm Italian and the situation is a lot more complex than that. It involves 3 main factors: - Racism - Balotelli as a person - The Italian idea of football

Racism: Italian Serie A has a few teams whose followers are neofascists and neonazis, like Lazio or Hellas Verona. Balotelli was in fact playing vs Hellas Verona. This is a fact.

Balotelli: He's considered a total idiot, simply as a person. Most of the fans of any team hate him and insult him while playing, regardless of the colour of his skin.

Italian idea of football: Every team is followed by an organized team of supporters, called "Ultras". During a match, Ultras use every possible way to discourage, insult and thus compromise the performance of the opponents. So, since Balotelli is black, imitating a monkey is what can hurt him the most.

I'd say that the real problem here is the whole situation of Italian neonazis and their connection with Ultras and Football.