I feel like more than identity, it's more about getting younger players to show up. It's obvious that they built a good squad before this one, and they won and they were all happy about it. But then they ended up losing and not even going to world cup as well, because some of their good players retired.
I feel like they will do better during this euro cup compared to not even be in world cup, they will be at least in this, but they won't win it. They just need a whole new generation to grow up and be better as well. If they can do that then they could end up with a better result. How did France become this good? They found players that are great and close to each other at age, Italy needs the same thing, kids at young 20's to play and be good together.
You can't compare France to any of the other UEFA teams. During the last one decade or so, every other UEFA team has become weaker. Netherlands and Germany are prime examples. But France is probably the only UEFA team that has got stronger. They have a steady supply of young players and at this point their best player is the 24-year old Kylian Mbappé. Italy on the other hand is a relatively young team (despite the rapidly ageing population in that country), but their younger players are yet to prove their worth at the international level.