It has been a few years since I've been in Italy (80's)

The last time I was there, (Mostly Parma, in the very flat Po Valley), there tons of 1 and 3 speed commuter bikes... very very nice ones everywhere. But, few 10 speed bikes, and most bikes were being sold through small bike shops, I think.

Has that changed?

I would imagine that here in the USA, small bike shops sell more bikes with cassettes than freewheels. And the market for freewheels is almost entirely supported by the Department Store bikes (plus a few vintage bikes).

Without the department store bikes, I would expect the mainstream market for freewheels to mostly die out within a decade or so.

There are also some bike shops that fail to stock parts for Dept store bikes. So much for one-stop shopping.

Anyway, I could imagine some small bike shops would have little experience with dealing with freewheels if virtually all of their clientele use cassettes. Still, I literally grew up with the old 2-prong freewheels where one had to be very careful about not stripping the teeth on them. So far, never any problems with the new style. And the OP's wheel doesn't look like it has been accumulating a decade worth of rust.