BREAKING NEWS: THE ALREADY-TICKETED BOOKINGS WILL BE HONORED BY ORBITZ AND ALITALIA.
I'm on the phone right now with Orbitz, and they've just (within the past few minutes) brokered an arrangement with Alitalia:
1. You can have a courtesy cancel.
2. You can pay the difference in fare.
3. You can have your booking reinstated.
(No joke, this is what Alitalia just offered to Orbitz.)
My booking that had a ticket number is being reinstated from "cancellation mode" as we speak by the Orbitz ticketing desk - I'm on hold, and decided to post this for others to benefit. The thing to remember is that Orbitz might push you to numbers 1 or 2, but they ARE authorized to perform option #3 at your insistence!
Orbitz is also aware of the notoriety that this has received, and is expecting to send out an email about the matter sometime today.