Italy's problems went well beyond the policies of a particularly inefficient prime minister. It was economically screwed by the disparities of North vs South, it had the Papal Question to hang over them, it was probably the most corrupt nation politically in Europe (not really sure if this has changed much), it was weak militarily and had tremendous social strife that was causing a mass exodus of its citizens overseas. Being pro French may help them in the short run but it frankly wasnt feasible as France held territory given away 30 yrs earlier that the Italians simply wanted back. They were also spending money on a colonial empire that wasnt paying off, much like the Germans for hollow prestige motives. For Italy to even be relevant they would have to solve the economic issues that made its government so weak and pathetic to start with while also figuring out some military solution to its disunity, unimpressive manpower and downright stupid commanders.
Arguably, we have much more of a corruption problem now than back then.
The territorial issues with France
in Europe were very much low-key for most of the period. What really pissed Italy off about France wasn't Nizza or Savoy, it was Tunis (and to a lesser extent, French meddling in Ethiopia).
The whole silly colonial enterprise was largely Crispi's brainchild, although the foundations (and the attached nationalist frenzy) predated his tenure in government. He was the guy staking his entire political career on the unwinnable war with Ethiopia, which led to the Adowa debacle.
Also, the tariff war with France did
a lot to worsen the North-South divide. While the issue is still contentious in terms of historical research, there is some room to believe that the unification of the country contributed to the worsening of Southern economy, specifically damaging its nascent industry. Not that the South hadn't very serious issues anyway, of course, but without the silly policies of Crispi it may have been marginally better (and mind you, Crispi was a Southerner himself).
Interestingly, the alleged reason why Italy wanted colonies was the need for a demographic outlet for her landless peasantry. It worked out abysmally badly, as in, Italian peasants did not colonize Eritrea, but Eritreans were dispossessed of their lands for that purpose anyway (and rightly rebelled).