I can only speak from my personal experience .. and you seem to have better experience ... I checked the tracking closely while I was waiting .. and all I have ever got was 'left Hongkong' ... on the other hand .. i had paid the 2.50 EU extra for registered mail .. maybe that did the trick ..
By the way .. i heard from a German friend that he got an email back from uxcell .. that they would not even try to send to Germany .. because of customs problems ...
zarabeth .. just curious .. where in Italy are you? i am in Torino