When I was an engineering student at the university of Naples, all my courses were examined both with a written exam and an oral one. No exception, no matter how many students.
It was hard for us and the teachers but, boy, you had to really study that stuff!
Since then I've become an academic myself and have been teaching in several countries. I have never found the same level of rigor in any place I've been.
Italian universities get many things wrong, but in terms of quality of graduates I reckon they used to be really good. The downside was having a high number of drop-outs (of which I am one). They've gone through umpteen "reforms" in the last few decades so I don't know how they do these days.
