Also: salaries are per capita, two people with kids on average earn 2x that.

Most of Italy is not big costly cities, but small towns where prices are much more affordable.

You can rent a 100 square meters house in Taranto centre (quite large city in Apulia) for about 500-600 euros/month.

You can eat out in a restaurant and have a full meal for 20 euros.

Of course they are not getting rich.

Of course there are people who literally cannot live on their income and we should do more about it, like raising wages, for example, when possible.

Reminder: after taxes, which means free healthcare and free schools.

Taxes are paid by the employer as part of the salary.