If someone had taken it over 200 years ago I'm sure they would have embraced it into the local cooking. Cheap, easy to produce and extremely nutritious, in a country where maggot riddled cheese is a sought after delicacy at least one region would have taken natto to heart.

But not with penne - tagliatelle perhaps. And there are plenty of worse crimes against Italian cooking - such as pineapples on pizza or dessicated parmesan dust.