Please allow me to show a little bit of national pride (the parent comment it's a joke, I know...).

While absolutely terrible at organizing (on a _fractal_ scale: from the smallest details to the big picture), and affected by a less than optimal state of the economy, we have a pretty good engineering tradition. I have met astonishing engineers in Italy (and in Germany as well, and Russia, and USA, and so on...) with deep theoretical knowledge and a strong hands on experience.

Edit: clarified, not to be taken too seriously