http://www.aviationartprints.com/taranto.htm
An excellent summary of the battle here.
The Italian Navy was no joke. They had excellent ships. They were generally less armored than others, but faster.
One of their surviving Cruisers was given to the USSR as war reperations (Don't ask me what the Italians did to the USSR), and it was rebuilt as the Sverdlov class of Cruiser, which became the backbone of the Soviet fleet after WWII.
Her guns were of longer range than US Cruisers, and she was 2 kts faster.