The Italian ASW wasn't up to much initially.
Their DDs had only passive gear to hunt subs with, and were in the habit of dropping depth charges periodically around convoys to 'warn off submarines'
Obviously this had the exact opposite effect. The exploding charges could be heard for miles, and alerted Brit sub commanders to the presence of a convoy.
Once the Germans started to get involved it got a lot more dangerous.
I'm sure they trained the Italian DD crews and gave then sonar technology.
I'm not sure how directly the Kriegsmarine got involved (haven't read a lot about it, just 2 books).
Shallow water operations in much of the Med has to have played a part in the high loss rate.
Often they could not dive deep enough to be totally invisible from the air (the Med has pretty clear water), or get under a sonar beam.
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