Hi all
I always understood that Italians were preferred over A. m. m. because the latter were so disagreeable. In the US, there was a process of "Italianizing" that went on for decades with the aim of eradicating A. m. m. 

> In opening a hive, the Italians, when pure, are much more peaceable than the black bees, and the queen is more readily found, not so much on account of contrast in color as from the fact that with the workers she usually remains undisturbed upon the combs.

King, H. A. (1876). The Bee-keeper's Text-book with Alphabetical Index


> The superiority of the Italians seems no longer a mooted question ... In my estimation, a sufficient ground for preference, did it stand alone, is that the Italian bees are far more amiabie. Years ago I got rid of my black bees, because they were so cross. A few years later, I got two or three colonies, that my students might see the difference, but to my regret; for, as we removed the honey in the autumn, they seemed perfectly furious, like demons, seeking whom they might devour, and this, too, despite the smoker, while the far more numerous Italians were safely handled, even without smoke. 

Cook, A. J. (1891). The Bee-keeper's Guide: Or Manual of the Apiary. 

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