In Italy there's a vast representation of Buddhist traditions: most of them are registered with the Unione Buddista Italiana. There's also a Wikipedia specific page. Historically Asia has been a major object of interest both for the Catholic church (i.e. the Jesuit Asia missions) and the Italian merchants (i.e. Marco Polo) which made Buddhism a major academic topic for a long time. For these reasons in 1732 the Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale" was founded in Naples, specifically focusing on Asia: still today is one of the world most prestigious Universities on the topic. Buddhism as a religion has begun finding some roots in Italy since the 1930s thanks to the work of the great tibetologist Giuseppe Tucci. In 1960 Tucci brought to Italy the Tibetan tulku Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche to teach Tibetan language at "L'Orientale" University. Years later the same Tibetan Lama established his own Dharma center in Tuscany naming it Merigar,). Many other Buddhist traditions have established in Italy in the last 40 years, from Theravada (i.e. Santacittarama) to Zen, etc.