Italy's not, but Rome is. Seriously, if you want to see great bands of just about any style you can think of, Rome is the place to be. While the rest of Italy is busy just getting on the train of what has already faded away, Rome stays ahead of them all. Lento is fucking fantastic, and such a perfect name. Lento simply means slow in Italian...even the name kicks ass. Even if some of them sing in Italian, which I normally find atrocious, these bands do it so well that it doesn't matter.
Rome is going to be the new Seattle, imho. It's the only place in Italy where music is still looked upon as an art form and not a way to impress your friends.
Ufomammut has been around for a while and are quite established as far as bands here go, but they're fantastic as well. There are a few faggoty indie bands but for the most part people ignore them. Some do it decently like Teatro Degli Orrori but when they sing in Italian it makes me wanna hurl.