Spain is a beautiful country but you can't blame people if they love Italy. Besides, you call them "ignorant" but perhaps the ignorant are you if you want to deny the beauty of Italy.
"Spain has more tourists" Yes, British or Nordic tourists flocking to the coast. Italy has much more cultural tourism, in fact Rome has more tourists than Barcelona, Milan like Madrid and Florence more than Seville ..
Moreover, if you want to take tourist data then I take UNESCO data: Italy is the first in the world for the number of cultural / artistic sites.