Marco is an Italian, of course it will play an Italian Opening.
My latest observations are that white gets the biggest possible advantage in the (very strangely) completely untried and unresearched opening 1.e4 e5 2. c4!
[d]rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/2P1P3/8/PP1P1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq c3 0 2
or 1.e4 c5 2.c4!
[d]rnbqkbnr/pp1ppppp/8/2p5/2P1P3/8/PP1P1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq c3 0 2
or, starting with c4, 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4!
[d]rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/5n2/4p3/2P1P3/2N5/PP1P1PPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq e3 0 3
All 3 lines are basically part of the same still unnamed opening with transpositions, and my personal opinion is that precisely here white gets the biggest possible advantage with optimal play.
White firmly controls the center and has good chances to start a promising kingside pawn attack earlier, a single black outpost in the center on d4 hardly compensates that.
Another 40 years until SF and Komodo get it.
My second choice (second-best white choice) is 1.d3! d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3.g3
[d]rnbqkb1r/ppp1pppp/5n2/3p4/8/3P1NP1/PPP1PP1P/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 0 3
and the resulting King's Indian Attack (KIA, basically the same as the KID for white with a spare tempo) is very favourable for white.
As far as I remember, Fischer had close to a perfect score with this opening.
So 1.d3 or possible transpositions is indeed a very good move, though engines tend to eval it with a negative score. Of course, after 1.d3 white has a significant advantage, my Komodo shoot-out only confirmed this, as white scored significantly above 50%.
Another 40 years for engines to understand 1.d3 is very good.