There has been so much Italian immigration into the United States that I probably think first of Italian-Americans. Pizza. Spaghetti. Risotto. Italian restaurants. Boston's North End. Italian expressions that have become American slang, like "Capiche?"
I think of:
Italian opera, Verdi and Puccini. Caruso. Pavarotti. Placido Domingo.
Italian movies, particularly of the 1970s or so. Federico Fellini. Michelangelo Antonioni. Actresses; Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida.
Italian artists: Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli.
Italian scientists: Galileo, Alessandro Volta, Enrico Fermi.
The ancient Romans.