Perhaps its better to wait a little bit and see what's going to happen in Italy (perhaps it will go the same way as here ?):
In my country (The Netherlands) it is now possible to change your national license into JAR-FCL (by means of a profcheck) and taking the ATPL theory with you. You will only lose ATPL credit 7 years after your last IR profcheck.
National licenses are not issued anymore here altough some people still fly on them.
Obviously, once you have the JAR-FCL, it's possible to convert to another CAA JAR-FCL.
good luck!