I can answer for America being "commented on" in music but not in people's personal lives:

According to Pierpaolo Polzonetti, there are 13 known Italian operas with references to Revolutionary America, either being set in America or featuring American characters, however they are all pretty /r/elitistclassical composers, no one you're likely to be very impressed by! Some of the more interesting examples:

Niccolo Piccinni wrote two operas about America in 1768 and '69, he was successful in his time (enough to merit an Italian Wikipedia article at least) but not popular now.

[The Witty Quaker Girl]( http://imslp.org/wiki/La_Quakera_spiritosa_(Guglielmi,_Pietro_Alessandro%29) which is a comedy, featuring (you guessed it) a Witty Quaker Girl coming back from America to Italy, breaking her promised marriage to an old count, and proposing to his sexy vineyard worker while holding him at gunpoint. Guglielmi was also successful in his time.

The list of 13 identified operas is in Italian Opera in the Age of the American Revolution, the author also argues for Mozart/Da Ponte's setting of Le Nozze di Figaro, while not being set in America, to be inspired by the themes and spirit of the American Revolution, which may be of more interest to you!