GEENY, you are spot on.
In Italy it's who you know and not what you know. Unfortunately this philosphy causes a threat to safety, when applied to the airline industry.
As far as the AEI/Volare situation you are right by saying the AEI guys were very professional and had successfully managed to combine a flight Ops department made up of different nationalities. When Volare took over they immediately took action so that the competent foreigners would leave. The very low salary imposed on new FOs is also another disgusting practice and why so many qualified and capable guys never even send a CV to Volare.
Italian aviation is a bit of a nightmare. However, Ryan Air have now opened their Bergamo base and are recruiting pilots. The deal is very good and the opertion is well managed. It will be interesting to see how Gandalf Airlines are going to compete with Ryan Air, as they are flying almost the same routes and a very different cost to the passenger.