This is a rather constant species. It has the larger type of apex. The length varies from 5.3 to 7.5 mm. The shells are rather opaque, and of a dirty pale beige colour. The upper part may be of a weak lilac colour, and occasional shells may be entirely lilac. In some shells darker colour-lines can be seen between the ribs. Punctate spiral striae are present in all shells. They may cover the whole body whorl, or only be visible at the back of the shell. The number of whorls varies from 7.3 to 8.5, and there are 2,75 to 4,25 ribbed whorls. There are 8-10 terminal ribs per whorl, which continue up to the well developed labial rib.

R. italiensis seems to be very true to form in its entire range. As yet, I cannot connect it in a satisfactory way with any other species. The species mainly differs from R. lia in the more slender habitus and in the more expanded aperture, which makes it similar to R. auriscalpium. It mainly differs from R. aartseni in the ribs, which are flatter and not tapered, which continue up to the labial rib, and which rarely cover over four whorls.

As yet, R. italiensis is only known from four samples. One was dredged at about the centre of the south coast of Sicily, depth 50-60 m; one at Isola della Correnti, SE. Sicily, depth 25 m; one halfway between Bonifacio, Corsica, and Toscane, Italy, depth 250-400 m. The fourth sample is from Procida, near Pozzuoli, Italy, depth 2 m.