The security of Italy is ultimately dependent on its ability to deflect or delay the endless armies coming in from the rest of the Ottoman empire by dominating the Mediterranean and win by seizing the Bosphorus and the forts connecting the two. Italy has comparatively little strategic depth, as they have a smaller number of very high value provinces, but they can affor Italy has comparatively little strategic depth, as they have a smaller number of very high value provinces, but they can afford to have fewer, higher level fortresses which makes them a tough nut to crack. Italian states in particular can choose to retain their city-state ideas when forming Italy and populate their armies with extremely cheap mercenaries, while the Ottomans have near-bottomless wells of manpower and have strong military ideas.