Which is exactly what I did where I live in Italy. Happily married and yes, after saying things to a colleague of mine that would have made me accused in the bay area.
Of course, unwanted sexual advances are a problem regardless of the relationship of the two parties, but unwanted or wanted advances between two people with a superior/subordinate relationship is where we get into trouble.
At all companies I've worked for in the US, there's never been a ban or stigma against colleagues dating, as long as there's no power differential between the two people. We still of course always expect people to behave professionally within a professional setting, but after-hours is your business.
If relationships between people with a power differential are commonplace in Italy, that's... unfortunate.
Women generally date up. This is especially common within professions with a high status since it is difficult to meet someone equal/better. View https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2016-who-marries-whom/
People generally are poor at reading others and end up pushing too far or getting offended easily (not referring to this case)
What's more likely to happen is what has been highlighted in the "sex partition" - https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Office-Partition-Dividing-Workpla...
Men are more likely to create more barriers to protect themselves and prevent bad optics rather than walk on egg shells around women. This in turn limits opportunities for women (aka glass ceiling).
As for "women generally date up", that is a near tautology given the imbalance in power generally between men and women. By the mere fact that men overwhelmingly hold positions of power, women will typically "date up". There is no way around that. So it's not a useful statistic and certainly isn't evidence of anything.