I don't know how representative Italian expatriates and second-generation italian north americans are of the general population of Italy. The perception I had for years is that Italian men are very controlling. One woman I know, her Italian male partner forbade her from having male friends, which everybody understood as him forbidding her from ever developing a life of her own. Another couple I know, the Italian husband is clearly the alpha of the relationship. One Italian woman I knew in college said she broke up with her first boyfriend who was italian because he needed to control every aspect of her life.
I knew this Italian couple at my previous workplace, they were both from Sicily. I couldn't ask the woman a question, even about work-related matters, without the man answering. They not only dated and lived together ... they also spent the work day in each other's office (gross).
Granted there's a bias here as these examples I'm giving you are largely from southern Italy, might in fact all be Sicilian.
There's one exception, this couple I know here in Baltimore, they're both normal, they have a horizontal relationship, I don't remember what part of Italy the man is from, facebook says the woman is from Napoli.
Bsed on what I've seen, Italian women like to submit, but at least they make excellent pasta and tiramisu.