My wife and I are going on our honeymoon in Italy next summer. How does one make friends in other countries (specifically Italy, obviously) before traveling there?

Book in a home stay or proper local tour. Not great for *before* you get there, but helps once you are

I don’t know about making friends abroad, but if y’all are interested in Italy and haven’t watched i yet, there is a great series called Stanley Tucci Searching for Italy where he travels the country and talks about the best food in each region and the history of it. It’s worth a watch!

Are you going to be in the north of Italy or the south? The cultures greatly differ

Look for a subreddit for the city/town you'll be in and interact with some of the posts there, see if you can make some connections. You could also use Bumble's BFF+travel mode to try to meet people But mostly, talk to bartenders when you get there. I have made friends solo travelling that way 🎉