i think if you asked the average central european where this guy is from and you give them two options, 1 central europe, 2 near east, most would probably go for near east. not that he could not pass in central eurpope but he could pass in near east easier than in central europe. there is overlap with near eastern phenotypes even in central europe, i wont deny that unlike you.
here is another north italian peasant from the same book. this time from piemonte.
View attachment 18020
this guy could maybe also pass as swiss but he can pass as somewhere from near east too. and if i didn't know better i would opt for the latter.
sry but that's not who i am. why orientalist? because i do see the similarities between europans and other westeurasians? lol a big chunk of our ancestry came literally from Anatolia not that long ago. you think those people had no phenotypic overlap with other near eastern populations?