italian policy
It is perfecly legal to give jump seats in Italy as it is to let police officers fly in the passenger cabin with their guns (unloaded).
Each airline defines who can fly on their jump seats but basically any company crew,other company's crew (in some cases a mutual agreement is needed),police,state and CAA officials.
Some companies give to their flight crews blank tickets that they can fill in and use on specified airlines and in other cases a crew badge is enough to get a boarding card directly at the gate according to the various agreements.
And as a general rule if you are a flight crew you are always free to ask for a jump seat and it's up to the captain to give you a ride (in this case yes you are not covered by any insurance if anything happens...unless of course you have your own).
Happy flying and happy jump seatting!!!