Having fighters sitting around just for the purpose of defending factories is kind of pointless… And so is an Airbase in Sicily.
An Airbase in Northern Italy is far superior, it gives planes extra range towards the eastern front, defends 2 seazones instead of one, you can build new units at that location, and if you don’t scramble your fighters can protect the territory itself too
I like your enthusiasm tho, a fighter strategy for Italy isn’t bad, but only so long as you have the ground units and transports to maintain the war in the middle east, and so long as you dual use the fighters on defense AND offense.