Hmmm. Admittedly, I've never used a Europa-Spezial fare to/from Italy. However, I've used Europa-Spezial fares, combined with CNL/EN travel, on numerous occasions to other destinations (including France). Although bahn.de has always quoted a combined price when purchasing a ticket (and of course, there's no way of buying the two items separately), in every case, when the ticket was actually issued the fare and sleeper element have been shown separately.

For self-print, online tickets, the price is broken down between 'Fahrkarte' (ie: for the journey) and 'Reservierung' (ie: the 'Aufpreis' for the sleeper). For 'traditional' tickets, I've always received 2 different pieces of paper - one the ticket for the journey, and one for the sleeper reservation - and each one shows a separated-out price.

I've also only had to cancel once - and on that occasion, I was charged €20 (ie: €15 for cancelling the Europa-Spezial part, and €5 for cancelling the sleeper supplement). Admittedly, that was a couple of years ago, so maybe the system has changed since then.

I have no direct experience of this (as I've never had to cancel for more than one person), but I'd always assumed it was per person. However, looking at DB's t&cs for international tickets, I can't see any mention of the €15 fee applying 'per person' - so it could well be just 'per booking'.