Is this vase with sea creatures Italian?

I'm still very new to collecting ceramics and I suspect this vase will turn out to be one of my 'learning pieces'. I fell for the rich colours and the fact that the glaze looked like it had some age. It wasn't expensive (2.50 euros) so I snapped it up. However, when I got it home and started looking at the base in more detail I realized it looks very new in comparison to the rest of the vase and the actual shape of the vase is very uneven (one curved handle is longer than the other, for example).

The design is fun (octopus and fish) and it has a certain something. Would be grateful to hear what others think. I thought it might be Italian, but I guess it could be from a number of holiday destinations (e.g. Portugal or Tunisia).

It's got the Greek islands and the med written all over it. A Locally produced, bright and fun vase from I would say the last 30 years. These are 100% hand made but are not artists labours of love that took an age to make. Turkey is of course making them now for tourists but the huge squid would suggest Greece as its starting home.

It's an innocent and fun thing to have at home on the side. Nearly all of them have come back full of summer memories in the sun so a lot can be forgiven but they are not highly skilled or valuable items to own.

If your starting out collecting discount the items that have little skill, items that have repeated identical parts that are so good they must be transfers, images repeated many times across the item. Look for the tiny errors, the mistakes humans make. The skills needed to create an effect and the signs its an artists work. Everyone buys poorly from time to time, everyone makes mistakes. Just learn to enjoy the ones you have and embrace the odd sunny vase for what it is

Dear Mordeep, thanks for this great answer. I proved what a novice i was this week when i stood doubting over a plate, eventually walked away and later discovered the maker's mark was John Ridgway & Co from 1830. Another lesson learned :-)