i spent most of my time in a small Calabrian town where I saw exactly 2 boys on mountain bikes. they labored up a very very steep hill and then about 40 minutes later I saw them coming back down, obviously enjoying the hill thoroughly.
My town is not very conducive to biking, it is practically straight up and down. Even in a brand new rental car, some of the inclines really made me nervous.

While i was near (and in) Milan I saw men dressed up in full roadbike battle gear (probably on fancy bikes) and lots of everyday folks riding commuter bikes.

In Podenzano (where I took all the photos) the predominant bicyclists were women. I went into the bike store there which interestingly enough was full of upper end Bianchis. There were a few lower end bikes there; but it is not clear to me where all these folks were buying their bikes.

Even in the nasty Milan traffic, I saw men and women riding their onespeed bikes. You have to understand that in Italy the attitude towards bicyclists is very different than it is at least in the United States. Bicyclists are grandma and grandpa, not some evil alien creature trying to take over the roads.