This is not true.The difference being that, here , the "backcountry" begins as soon as one puts his/her ski tips out of the groomed run, and often is not clearly stated so. Discussing with one of my coaches (freeride coach) some years ago, and e was saying that the vast majority of ppl getting caught in an avalanche in the Alps occured at a distance not more than 100 mt from the groomed trails (since then tried to find references on that, unsuccessfully).
If one is used to the N.A. signage, could very easily be caught in the euristic trap to think that in Italy too, there is a sort of "controlled area"and ski out of bound thinking it's all good. Where in truth, is not...unless one knows very, very well the area.
A lot of avie control in Europe, because most off piste terrain spills into groomers.