One more thing I should have mentioned. I have a $330 Delta eCredit so this flight is only costing me $200 and I have a small budget for this trip. That being said I'll at least price this out with Alitalia and may find another way to cash in credit card rewards to pay with them.

Thanks for the tip re: getting Skymiles even when booked through Alitalia. Wish there was some other work-around but that is helpful.