As in any army, the quality of Italian units varied significantly. The best - the elite professionals - were probably as good as anyone else's best, but the general mass of conscript troops did not fight well, mainly because they were not very interested in the war.

For them, the war wasn't a question of national survival (like Britain) or righting perceived wrongs (like Germany), which encouraged those nations to fight hard. The Italians had been friendly with the British for a long time (and fought alongside the allies in WW1), and after Dec 1941 they were even less happy, because they liked the USA and had many connections there due to immigration. OTOH, they didn't particularly like the Germans.

Basically, it was Mussolini's adventure - he led, but most of his army didn't really want to follow.

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Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website