Italy is a country that unified very late and whose regional identities are still strong. And for the present, one of the most attractive cooking the world, beautiful and elegant people, world class designers. The main problem when travelling in Italy seems either to be money or that you have to go back. As outlined above, for roman history Italy can't be beaten, as for Renaissance painting. Litterature is also immense if often overlooked.
Phonemes are very easy with the minor exception of the rolled r.
If you dont' speak with the right intonation, people won't understand you and you will miss half of the fun. Similar to other romance languages, a little less difficult than french but definitely more complicated than spanish. Not special difficulty, but it helps to speak french or latin. More difficult than spanish but simpler than french. I rate this language as , that is, easy to learn, at least for speakers of other romance languages.