While I'm equally fond of Italian and French, as someone who learnt the former after the latter, these were some novelties (mostly grammatical) I particularly appreciated, and which I wish were permissible/found in French. They're easy enough to transfer, given the similarity of the languages. But I guess there's also an argument for each language retaining its unique possibilities and aesthetic.
1) Being able to put the infinitive after the article- both definite and indefinite!
e.g. nel volere- in the act of wanting
e.g. un correre- a running-about (e.g. (as dicussed in this exchange) 'Oggi la nostra vita è tutta un correre'- today our life is just running about)
(As far as I know, French does this with a couple of words- le parler, le pouvoir- but those are very much the exceptions, and you don't tend to think of them as verbs)
2) Being able to combine the indefinite article and possessive pronoun.
e.g. un suo allontanamento- A distancing on his/her/its part.
3) sf
This beautiful sound exists in French, but not (as far as I know) with the f. Sf in my opinion just looks great on the page, especially at the beginning of words (sfruttamento, sfiorare).
[This one I admit is very much part of the Italian aesthetic, and I'm willing to let it slide as a difference rather than something French should consider adopting]
4) Dropping the subject
Italians, unlike the French, generally only use the subject for emphasis (e.g. io non volevo mangiarla (I didn't want to eat it)). Much more concise. But this will be problematic for French to do without significant grammatical reform, given that so many conjugations sound the same (Je mange? Tu manges? Il mange?)
5) Making reflexive infinitives one word- e.g. mi alzare ---> alzarmi (to get up)
6) Combining 1) with ability to put direct object on the end of infinitive
e.g. lo mangiare- to eat it
nel mangiarlo- in [the act of] eating it,
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