IT is/has been a common IATA area 2 “connector” for AA for some time. AA fares from North Africa to the US frequently listed IT in addition to BA, allowing transit in ROM in addition to LON. It’s historically been less about FF coordination and more about convenience of a single ticket, luggage through check, etc. I guess AS is going a step further and crediting RDMs too. My guess is that will only be the case when the IT segment is part of an AS fare that permits ticketing on IT for one or more segments in the fare rules.