They had, but now...?
Sure, the generation of Criscito, Ranocchia, Bonucci, Astori, Abate and others is greatness.
Now let's compare with other nations from WC:
Brazil - Thiago Silva, Dante, David Luiz, Henrique
Croatia - Corluka, Lovren, Schildenfeld, Vida
Spain - Pique, Ramos, Albiol
England - Jagielka, Cahill, Smalling, Jones
Italy - Barzagli, Chiellini, Bonucci, Palletta
Uruguay - Godin, Caceres, Lugano, Coates
France - Sakho, Koscielny, Varan, Mangala
Argentina - Demichelis, Rojo, Fernández, Garay
Germany - Boateng, Mertesacker, Hummels, Howedes
Portugal - Pepe, Bruno Alves, Neto, Costa
Belgium - Van Buyten, Kompany, Vermaelen, Vertonghen
And which team have better central defenders than Italy? As for fullbacks you can turn some pages back and you will find my post about italian fullbacks, except Maldini and Zambrotta Italy didn't had world's best fullbacks in the past 25 years yet they finished 2nd in 1994, 2000, 2012 and won 2006 world cup