I've always felt bad for Italy, because it became a united nation before Germany, yet still managed to be subordinate to the Reich throughout the 20th Century.
My challenge, with a POD in the 19th Century, is to have an Italian presence established in the Pacific with a treaty port (along the lines of Hong Kong, Tsingtao and the like) in China.
I suspect this will need PODs to change the Navy's importance in the eyes of the Italian leaders much like how it was important in Germany.