So when I was little my dad told me that the Italians were in the war too. He said we kicked the shit out of them because Italians were pussies and that was that. Now that I know a bit more I figure that probably isn't the case. So could someone kind of explain what happened?
Something I actually just did a good deal of reading on haha!
Simply put, the Italian campaign was one of the most grueling, violent, and cruel theaters in the war. It involved organized frontal attacks on well prepared defenses, desperate beachhead landings, and months of fighting in mountain valleys through terrible weather. In fact in many cases it had more in common with WW1 than other theaters.
The Italians themselves did not really have any heart for fighting the allies once Sicily had been taken, in fact after getting rid of Mussolini they signed an armistice and even then joined the war on the Allied side. It was the Germans who put up such a masterful defense, led by Albert Kesselring.
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy by Rick Atkinson is a great introductory read covering the landings in Sicily all the way to the fall of Rome on June 5th, 1944. But it should be noted that the fighting lasted really up until the last weeks of the war.