I ask Sonny why he thinks his own application for citizenship has taken over two decades.
"It's racism," he replies immediately.
At one point his file was lost completely, and he has now been told his case is "pending".

Insaf's case is similar.

"I arrived here at nine months old, and maybe at 33 or 34 - if all goes well - I can finally be an Italian citizen," she says, exasperated.
Her parents finally got Italian citizenship 20 days after Insaf turned 18. That meant she had to apply for herself from scratch, including proving a steady income.

You're correct of course in that a big part of the problem is that it seems only adults can start the process, as per https://immigration-italy.com/how-to-get-citizenship-in-italy/ there aren't separate provisions for minors to naturalize, the usual naturalization pathway requires things that normally only adults or emancipated minors would be able to provide, and minors whose parents naturalize are automatically naturalized too.