Capital imports are one side of a coin - the other is the real economy side; imports of goods and services.
An import of capital without accompanying goods and services import would merely mimic an increase in circulated money; a mere monetary effect.
Italy has a positive trade balance now, but it hadn't for years and it has really now more use for the surplus than for additional (capital) imports. The economic problem is rather demand side than supply side after all.
Italy is not in a position of a poor country which cannot afford to import modern production machinery; that's merely a question of allocation to Italy. It's thus going to get the necessary investment goods with or without much capital imports.
Finally, capital imports from individuals typically won't go into the direct investments account.
Summary: Capital imports are overrated as help against domestic problems because people tend to neglect the drawbacks and to highlight the advantages.
About the cheap foreign labourers; there were restrictions for Poles and IIRC also Czechs for a long time, despite the EU. They play almost no role in the sectors which compete with Italy. Polish labourers tend to be employed in construction or agriculture, for example. Almost none work in automotive, chemical or machine building industries.
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