Please, let's not go there. Croatia is not similar to Italy. Italy has 20 distinct, different regions, where people don't eat the same food, and and in many cases, barely speak the same language. According to the UN (UNESCO), Italy has more world heritage sites than any country in the world.

Italy is a center of world automobile engineering, fashion, design, literature, music, science, sculpture, literature, painting, cooking, exploration, navigation Columbus, to Verazzano, to America(o) Vespucci), started the world's first university, has been at the center of western culture for thousands of years, and USA government with a senate, house of representatives and a chief executive, is modeled after it, most of the western judicial system is modeled after it with laws replacing arbitrary judgements made by kings and clergy, now decided by peers.

Croatia just broke away from communism and came into existence in 1991. It has Dobrovnik, Zagreb, nice beaches, and one of its cultural claim to fame is to have invented the mens' neck tie. I go there for a change because it's near Venice and cheaper, but You shouldn't compare it with visiting the cradle of western civilization and art, and recommend it to someone over Italy just because they got a speeding ticket. The lesson is not to speed in Italy, not to visit Croatia instead of Italy.