So why no Italian leg of the current tour - and off memory can't recall NMA doing many gigs that way over the years with the clear recent exception of Palestrina?
Well, quite simply because as I saw clearly myself when I was living there many years ago (and I'm reliantly informed by friends who still live there things haven't changed), they are virtually unknown in Italy. Of course they have a few very dedicated fans here and there, like everywhere else, but anywhere apart from Rome they'd struggle to get 100 people in one place to go and see them. I remember this gig in Milan ages ago (I think it was 1998), when it was FREE to get in and still there were probably only about 50-odd people there.... about half of whom not Italian, and a further 10 of the remaining ones coming from Turin, 90 miles away (I was living there at the time and brought them with me

)
Like I said above, my Italian friends/contacts tell me things haven't changed much and therefore the few fans there normally go see them in Switzerland or France (if they're from the north both places are within reach, and with cheap airlines you can go further afield too of course)...