The geography of the Italian boot is a hideous pain to attack and conversely quite ideal for defence, as these previous posts will clarify. More can always be said on the matter, so if anyone else would like to speak further on Italy and why the Allies invaded, please don't let this post stop you!

• u/Ornlu_Wolfjarl addresses the political and strategic concerns of why the British wanted to focus on the Mediterranean;
• u/panick21 looks at strategic concerns and also notes a point of geography (with included map);
• and u/AlistairStarbuck points out both the geography and other concerns, contrasting Italy versus Northern France.

Further, this question feels like it's founded on the assumption that the 6 June landings at Normandy were a high-risk operation, likely influenced by Saving Private Ryan and every piece of media that's followed in its depictions. Whilst the movie is indeed very good at conveying the experience at Omaha, it cannot be generalised to the other landing beaches, which weren't as bad as Omaha. It was not a bloodbath or a suicide mission, and taking statements like "50% of the first wave to hit Omaha were casualties" in isolation leads to a very skewed picture. The real suicide mission would have been an assault landing at Calais. Normandy was the best option in Northern France. I can provide more previous posts addressing this particular picture, if you'd like.