It is very rare (if not impossible) for italian words to start with a wowel that requires an accent (unless you consider sentences, and yet in that case 99% of the times it will be an È
as in È possibile?
), so maybe that is the reason of this design choice.
Or maybe to make CAPS LOCK look funny: ASDèàùUP
. Who knows...
Anyways most people never need this because they incorrectly use E'
(letter E followed by an apostrophe). Even newspapers do this.
But we can fix this in 5 lettere: MSKLC!
You can use the freely available Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator to remap (map, in this case) the combination SHIFT-é to get È, for example, or SHIFT-ALT-è to get É. Italian tutorial here.
This is probably the best solution as you are making a new keyboard layout file to use, so no additional programs are run (you only execute MSKLC once, to make the layout).
If you have Windows XP or lower, then it is time to upgrade as this requires at least windows Vista.
Update: Due to having to re-install Windows myself from time to time I feel it is better to put my own keyboard file here. Just copy & paste the following block of text in an empty file and name it "italian.klc". You can now open it with the MSKLC. Feel free to update this answer with your improvements.
KBD ItaBest "Italiano - Better" COPYRIGHT "(c) 2016 B9K" COMPANY "Company" LOCALENAME "it-IT" LOCALEID "00000410" VERSION 1.0 SHIFTSTATE 0 //Column 4 1 //Column 5 : Shft 2 //Column 6 : Ctrl 6 //Column 7 : Ctrl Alt 7 //Column 8 : Shft Ctrl Alt LAYOUT ;an extra '@' at the end is a dead key //SC VK_ Cap 0 1 2 6 7 //-- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- 02 1 0 1 0021 -1 -1 -1 // DIGIT ONE, EXCLAMATION MARK, <none>, <none>, <none> 03 2 0 2 0022 -1 -1 -1 // DIGIT TWO, QUOTATION MARK, <none>, <none>, <none> 04 3 0 3 00a3 -1 -1 -1 // DIGIT THREE, POUND SIGN, <none>, <none>, <none> 05 4 0 4 0024 -1 -1 -1 // DIGIT FOUR, DOLLAR SIGN, <none>, <none>, <none> 06 5 0 5 0025 -1 20ac -1 // DIGIT FIVE, PERCENT SIGN, <none>, EURO SIGN, <none> 07 6 0 6 0026 -1 -1 -1 // DIGIT SIX, AMPERSAND, <none>, <none>, <none> 08 7 0 7 002f -1 -1 -1 // DIGIT SEVEN, SOLIDUS, <none>, <none>, <none> 09 8 0 8 0028 -1 -1 -1 // DIGIT EIGHT, LEFT PARENTHESIS, <none>, <none>, <none> 0a 9 0 9 0029 -1 -1 -1 // DIGIT NINE, RIGHT PARENTHESIS, <none>, <none>, <none> 0b 0 0 0 003d -1 -1 -1 // DIGIT ZERO, EQUALS SIGN, <none>, <none>, <none> 0c OEM_4 0 0027 003f -1 0060 00b4 // APOSTROPHE, QUESTION MARK, <none>, GRAVE ACCENT, ACUTE ACCENT 0d OEM_6 SGCap 00ec 005e -1 007e -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH GRAVE, CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT, <none>, TILDE, <none> -1 -1 0 00cc // LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH GRAVE 10 Q 1 q Q -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER Q, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Q, <none>, <none>, <none> 11 W 1 w W -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER W, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER W, <none>, <none>, <none> 12 E 1 e E -1 20ac -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER E, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E, <none>, EURO SIGN, <none> 13 R 1 r R -1 00ae -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER R, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R, <none>, REGISTERED SIGN, <none> 14 T 1 t T -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER T, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T, <none>, <none>, <none> 15 Y 1 y Y -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER Y, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Y, <none>, <none>, <none> 16 U 1 u U -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER U, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U, <none>, <none>, <none> 17 I 1 i I -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER I, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER I, <none>, <none>, <none> 18 O 1 o O -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER O, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O, <none>, <none>, <none> 19 P 1 p P -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER P, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P, <none>, <none>, <none> 1a OEM_1 SGCap 00e8 00e9 001b 005b 007b // LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH GRAVE, LATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH ACUTE, ESCAPE, LEFT SQUARE BRACKET, LEFT CURLY BRACKET -1 -1 0 00c8 // LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH GRAVE 1b OEM_PLUS 0 002b 002a 001d 005d 007d // PLUS SIGN, ASTERISK, INFORMATION SEPARATOR THREE, RIGHT SQUARE BRACKET, RIGHT CURLY BRACKET 1e A 1 a A -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER A, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A, <none>, <none>, <none> 1f S 1 s S -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER S, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S, <none>, <none>, <none> 20 D 1 d D -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER D, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D, <none>, <none>, <none> 21 F 1 f F -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER F, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER F, <none>, <none>, <none> 22 G 1 g G -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER G, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER G, <none>, <none>, <none> 23 H 1 h H -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER H, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER H, <none>, <none>, <none> 24 J 1 j J -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER J, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER J, <none>, <none>, <none> 25 K 1 k K -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER K, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER K, <none>, <none>, <none> 26 L 1 l L -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER L, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L, <none>, <none>, <none> 27 OEM_3 SGCap 00f2 00e7 -1 0040 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH GRAVE, LATIN SMALL LETTER C WITH CEDILLA, <none>, COMMERCIAL AT, <none> -1 -1 0 00d2 // LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH GRAVE 28 OEM_7 SGCap 00e0 00b0 -1 0023 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE, DEGREE SIGN, <none>, NUMBER SIGN, <none> -1 -1 0 00c0 // LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH GRAVE 29 OEM_5 0 005c 007c -1 007e -1 // REVERSE SOLIDUS, VERTICAL LINE, <none>, TILDE, <none> 2b OEM_2 SGCap 00f9 00a7 001c -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH GRAVE, SECTION SIGN, INFORMATION SEPARATOR FOUR, <none>, <none> -1 -1 0 00d9 // LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH GRAVE 2c Z 1 z Z -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER Z, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z, <none>, <none>, <none> 2d X 1 x X -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER X, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER X, <none>, <none>, <none> 2e C 1 c C -1 00a9 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER C, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C, <none>, COPYRIGHT SIGN, <none> 2f V 1 v V -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER V, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER V, <none>, <none>, <none> 30 B 1 b B -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER B, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER B, <none>, <none>, <none> 31 N 1 n N -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER N, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N, <none>, <none>, <none> 32 M 1 m M -1 -1 -1 // LATIN SMALL LETTER M, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER M, <none>, <none>, <none> 33 OEM_COMMA 0 002c 003b -1 -1 -1 // COMMA, SEMICOLON, <none>, <none>, <none> 34 OEM_PERIOD 0 002e 003a -1 263a 263b // FULL STOP, COLON, <none>, WHITE SMILING FACE, BLACK SMILING FACE 35 OEM_MINUS 0 002d 005f -1 2015 -1 // HYPHEN-MINUS, LOW LINE, <none>, HORIZONTAL BAR, <none> 39 SPACE 0 0020 0020 0020 -1 -1 // SPACE, SPACE, SPACE, <none>, <none> 56 OEM_102 0 003c 003e 001c 25c4 25ba // LESS-THAN SIGN, GREATER-THAN SIGN, INFORMATION SEPARATOR FOUR, BLACK LEFT-POINTING POINTER, BLACK RIGHT-POINTING POINTER 53 DECIMAL 0 002e 002e -1 -1 -1 // FULL STOP, FULL STOP,, , KEYNAME 01 Esc 0e Backspace 0f Tab 1c Enter 1d Ctrl 2a Shift 36 "Right Shift" 37 "Num *" 38 Alt 39 Space 3a "Caps Lock" 3b F1 3c F2 3d F3 3e F4 3f F5 40 F6 41 F7 42 F8 43 F9 44 F10 45 Pause 46 "Scroll Lock" 47 "Num 7" 48 "Num 8" 49 "Num 9" 4a "Num -" 4b "Num 4" 4c "Num 5" 4d "Num 6" 4e "Num +" 4f "Num 1" 50 "Num 2" 51 "Num 3" 52 "Num 0" 53 "Num Del" 54 "Sys Req" 57 F11 58 F12 7c F13 7d F14 7e F15 7f F16 80 F17 81 F18 82 F19 83 F20 84 F21 85 F22 86 F23 87 F24 KEYNAME_EXT 1c "Num Enter" 1d "Right Ctrl" 35 "Num /" 37 "Prnt Scrn" 38 "Right Alt" 45 "Num Lock" 46 Break 47 Home 48 Up 49 "Page Up" 4b Left 4d Right 4f End 50 Down 51 "Page Down" 52 Insert 53 Delete 54 <00> 56 Help 5b "Left Windows" 5c "Right Windows" 5d Application DESCRIPTIONS 0409 Italiano - Better LANGUAGENAMES 0409 Italian (Italy) ENDKBD