In studying the history of the melodeon I don't remember seeing that the Italians made one like the Cajuns copied. They did make a single row instrument but it had 4 bass buttons. It seems that at the time the Cajuns and Quebecois were adopting the two bass single row instrument it was slowly falling out of favor with others because of its limitations.
I know about that guy but after WWII accordion production shifted to Italy but the 2 bass single row instrumnet did not have enough demand for them to manufacturer it profitability so they concentrated on other types of accordions.