I don't know how WAD this is, but starting as the SPQR, I was able to get half of Italy without unpausing by offering vassalization to all the catholics there. They all accepted. Except Salerno, at first, but they accepted too after a bribe.
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Italy in 1066 is mostly disunited but a good chunk of the peninsula is made up of former Roman vassals that wouldn't mind coming back into Rome that much. It's not broken per se, that much is truth
that's one of the not-so-obvious bonuses the SPQR has that makes it easy vs the Imperium Romanum (since the IR is very fragmented, religion-wise, while Italy has a high cluster of catholics wiling to accept vassalization again with a good diplomatic ruler)
I'd say that is indeed WAD, in addition to the obvious remarks, if the Consul/Imperator is Catholic, that offers a relations bonus making it more likely for other Catholic Italian rulers to want to come back into the fold of the SPQR. I think it adds a nice little strength of initial coherence there.