According to the publication, it seems that they have discovered some hints on Apple’s website that suggests that Apple Pay could be arriving to both markets. This comes in the form of an “About Apple Pay” page on Apple’s website in which the pages are available in both German and Italian, which has led to speculation that Apple Pay could be arriving to both markets.
In addition to these pages, there are also screenshots on both pages that shows Apple Pay’s UI in their respective languages, which definitely seems to hint that the service could be arriving soon. It is unclear as to when they might be launched, but last we heard Apple could be hosting an event in March to unveil the new iPads, so perhaps they might take that opportunity to announce something.
Either way we wouldn’t be surprised if Apple eventually expanded Apple Pay to either of those markets anyway, so in reality it was just a matter of time.