Italians are feeling more restive about EU membership than many of their fellow Europeans.
Nearly 50% said they would vote to leave the EU if they had the chance while 58% said they would like to have a referendum on the matter.
The Ipsos MORI poll found that negative sentiment is far higher than in Poland (22%), Spain (26%), Germany (34%), Sweden (39%), or France (41%).
But the survey of more than 6,000 people - across Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain and Sweden - also found that 45% said they wanted their own vote of whether to remain part of the EU.
This has given rise in some quarters to the spectre of a “domino effect” elsewhere in Europe resulting from the British referendum on membership.
Nearly half (48%) of those surveyed believed if Britain votes to leave then other countries would follow.
In Britain, only 35% believed the UK would actually leave, compared to 60% of Italians and 58% of French people.
Bobby Duffy, from Ipsos MORI, said: “The opinion polls are indicating a close race as we approach 23 June – but this new study shows Britons are the most convinced of all that Brexit isn’t going to happen.
Italy’s Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, has remained a defender of the EU while not being shy about standing up to Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel over a variety of subjects, most recently over her rejection of his idea of a "euro bond" to pay for the migrant crisis.
Renzi has repeatedly called for greater cooperation in Europe over the refugee crisis.
But Italian citizens are forming their own views and euro-scepticism is waxing.
The so-called Five Star Movement (M5S) has in the past promised the lead Italy out of the eurozone. Its meteoric rise in five years has seen it become the second most popular political party in the country.
“The Italians in particular hope to have their own opportunity to go to the polls on their EU membership – which lends a sense that even if the vote is to stick with the status quo in June, it will not be the end of the EU’s challenges,” Duffy said.
Comments
Sadly I fear that propaganda from the UK government and big businesses who profit from cheap labour from the EU will be heeded by those Brits who lack the savvy to understand the facts.