I just flew back from FCO and the whole check-in and security took no more than 5 minutes at T5. At LAX yesterday, the lines were over an hour long for non-elites at all the terminals I went by.
And who has the "fiasco"? It certainly is not the Italians! They were courteous, fast, and of course we could keep our shoes on.
No dogs, or ponies, were seen.