The late 80's and early 90's were a prosperous time for Italian drivers especially with the influx of minor Italian teams like Minardi, Osella, Dallara, Coloni, Eurobrun and of course Life; Looking just at Imola in 1990, there was 14 Italian driver competing
http://en.wikipedia....#Classification
Strangely enough, I went through that list and pretty much all of them were pretty competent, I'd say the only exceptions of "useless paydrivers" would be Langes and Barilla.
Patrese, Nannini, Modena, de Cesaris, Capelli, Larini, Pirro, Caffi, Alboreto, Martini, Giacomelli, Tarquini - not a bad bunch with all of them quite accomplished in one way or another. But it wasn't a *great* bunch neither - the only one to have gone as far as fighting for a F1 drivers title was Alboreto, and even that was very short-lived.
You'd find a very similar generation of drivers for France in the late 70s/early 80s, I reckon their "record" must've been around then. Except they did have one mega star of course - Alain Prost. And quite a few more race winners: Laffite, Jabouille, Pironi, Tambay, Arnoux...