I called Europcar who had provided the car and after inquiring if anyone was hurt, if another vehicl

I have rented from AutoEurope before and never noticed this two-tiered pricing before. This may be reflective of a situation peculiar to Italy, namely the prices are for car rentals with and without CDW (Collision Damage Waiver = won't cover damage to your own car).
Normally, many credit card companies include CDW in their contract, so you don't have to pay extra for it. However, if you rent your car in Italy, the Italians won't accept the credit card CDW and they make you buy it, no matter what.
Then, if your itinerary allows it, rent the car outside of Italy (e.g. Switzerland, Germany, Austria)and return it anywhere in same country from you where you picked it up. This way, you can save yourself paying for the CDW.
However, if your itinerary forces you to drop the car off in a country other than where you picked it up, the high cross-border drop-off charge may make this a wash relative to paying for the CDW in Italy.
I backed our rented Passat wagon into the corner of a wall in a dimly lit underground garage in Carcassonne... at today's prices for body work it was in the 2-3000 dollar range even though the damage was not severe.
I called Europcar who had provided the car and after inquiring if anyone was hurt, if another vehicle was involved and if the car was drivable they said just drop it off as planned at the end of the rental.