It's a little confusing to jump right into the middle of the Visa process (Apostille) without providing the background info, so let's take a dive into my Visa research.
And let's start from the very beginning. Italy is a member of both the EU (European Union) and Schengen Agreement. What are those, you might ask, and how do they differ? I'm gonna tell you.
The EU is a political and economic union, wherein the member countries are bound by a certain group of law. The "single market" aspect of the EU allows for free movement of people, goods, services and money. At this writing there are 28 countries in the EU.
The Schengen Agreement allows for no internal border control among the member countries. There are 26 Schengen countries at this writing.
A country in Europe can be EU but not Schengen (UK and Ireland), Schengen but not EU (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Liechenstein), both, or neither.
Most American citizens who travel to Europe are taking advantage of a "Schengen Visa Type C", which is basically a tourist Visa which you don't need to apply for, in which you can stay in Europe 90 consequtive days in a 6 month period. Beginning in 2021, the no-application Schengen tourist visa will be replaced by the ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System). The ETIAS will have an online application process, and applicants will be screened by Interpol. Let me state this clearly - beginning 2021, Americans will need to apply for tourist Visa online before traveling to Europe.
Takeaway from this is that the Schengen border control agreement controls tourism and airport/transit visas.