Nicky wrote:

> It seems to me that there's
> a tendency in Italian to call
> W "vu", especially (or only?) as in "WWW".

Yes, as /vi/ is now more common a name for V, /vu/ has been recycled for W.
But this only happens in acronyms. However, notice that some common acronyms
have /vu/ for V, such as: "TV" /ti(v)'vu/ or "DVD" /divu'di/.

The pronunciation /vuvu'vu/ for "WWW" is nearly ubiquitous. Last summer,
someone even made a success pop song out of it: "Vu vu vu, mi piaci tu. E mi
piaci sempre più..."

For "WWW", An humorous pronunciation I have heard is: "Viva, viva, viva!".
"W" is in fact also used as the abbreviation of Italian "viva" ("long life
to"). The opposite "abbasso" ("down with") is normally abbreviated with an
upside down "W".

Ciao.
Marco