It is hard to provide a proper answer to this question. Obviously the treatment of the subject varies with the age of the students and the ability and inclination of the teacher.

There are in any case some guidelines that have been generally followed, as far as I can say, during the last fifteen years or so.

 

WW2 is studied in the last class of Scuola Media and Liceo which is to mean 13-14 years of age and 18-19 years of age. In both cases there is some separation between the period of unified Italy, culminating with Giolitti's age and leading to WW1 wich is studied in the first part of the year; and the interwar period, leading to WW2.

This period is broadly divided as follows:

Post war crisis; revision of the treaties; social conflict within Italy; twilight of Giolitti's system; preconditions to the rise of fascism.

The rise of fascism per se; first steps of the new regime.

Other nations after the war; a brief outlook of the USA, including 1929 and new deal, England and France; Germany, from the crisis of Weimar to the rise of Hitler; the USSR (after the death of Lenin).

Back to Italy; further steps of the Fascist Regime; propaganda and consensus; the concept of totalitarian state framed together with Nazism and Stalinism.

The alliance between Italy and Germany; the war in Ethiopia and the Spanish Civil War; a significant space is given to the racial laws (books include a specific chapter dealing with the persecution of the jews and other minorities) usually Germany first and Italy after; less time is spent on italian colonialism.

The beginning of the war; initial success of the Axis; Pearl Harbor and war with the USA; Stalingrad and the change of tide.

Crisis of the Fascist Regime; fall of Mussolini; the Civil War and the Resistenza.

Prosecution of the war and agony of Nazi Germany; Yalta; the atomic bombs; transition to postwar; Potsdam and the beginning of the Cold War.

 

This book of exercises, catered to the 11-14 years old, groups the events in three chapters: The beginning of 20th century (from the belle epoque to WW1); The age of Totalitarian Regimes (from the Russian Revolution to 1929); The Short Century (from WW2 to 1989).

 

Looking further into it, if you jump to page 61, the student is asked to comment on the famous Discorso dei Manipoli which inaugurated Mussolini's tenure as Presidente del Consiglio. The questions include wether the March on Rome could be considered a coup and wether his government was made up only of fascists.

They are later asked to explain the causal relations betwwen certain events during the entirety of the Fascist Regime, including te racial laws, the creation of MinCulPop (Ministery of Popular Culture - the propaganda ministery), Matteotti's murder.

In page 63 they are tasked with explaining the causes of the rise of Nazism, thus grouped: Weimar's weakness, economical crisis, support for Nazism within the Industry, lack of reaction of the european powers. Later they are asked to find analogies between Nazism and Fascism, for example putting together MVSN (Voluntary Militia for National Security) and Gestapo or comparing the youth organizations. And then they even have to comment on an excerpt from Mein Kampf.

Page 65 deals with the war, and Mussolini's speech after the declaration of war. Those poor kids have two lines to explain what Hitler and Mussolini wanted from the war.

A graph shows the human casualties during the war. The student should comment on that.

Moreover they are expected to know the meaning of 'parallel war', 'Resistenza', 'partisan', 'Shoah' and the difference between a concentration camp and an extermination camp.

 

Now jump at page 125 on a section called Fascism and Nazism; it explicitly deals with the concept of Propaganda and Personality Cult and the student is asked to explain the pictures shown.

The following page deals with antisemitism, with and excerpt from the Manifesto degli Scienziati Razzisti (Racist Scientists Manifesto) of 1938. The students are supposed to explain in particular the phrase The jews do not belong to the italian race.

 

Of course you should expect much more variety of topics for the 18-19 years old. But the examples given are quite representative of the global attitude, which no longer stresses over events and chronologies but rather on the ability to make connections and understand the development of major social and political trends.

In this context the events of the War (battles and such) tend to be less relevant than the great phenomenons which marked the first half of the 20th century.

To add to this; Fascism is presented in textbooks in an entirely negative way (perhaps lacking some subtlety) and, while revisionism certainly exists within italian society, it is generally confined out of the educational system. Large attention is given to the crimes of the Totalitarian regimes and the nature of the regimes themselves; the analysis of italian colonialism is quite lacking, as is with traditional historiography on the subject.

 

The textbook I used as a source is presented as free content on the website of the book's publisher. I believe it to be representative of the kind of knowledge that is expected for students of that age.

A more proper answer could come by someon who had access to material catered at updating teacher's curricula. Unfortunately I could not find anything of the sort. I hope in any case that this helps you.

 

Edit: fixed something with my english.