Okay, with all due respect to Igor, here I wouldn't agree with him either. First regarding Gola NE - I haven't been there yet, but as far as I know it's actually a path that basically follows traces from the first war, then along that direction they've basically just marked the passage as the easiest way through the wall and secured it only at the hardest spots, so that you can get through without special mountaineering skills anyway, the thing is partly meant as a descent route for alpinists, and at the same time ordinary hikers walk it too. Now, how that's connected to maintaining this path and if there's anything in the middle, I don't know. But I do know that not long ago the condition was very bad even at the key spot and for quite a few years you had to climb a 4 there, before they got around to fixing it.
As for the general state of marked and secured paths in Italy, especially in their Julians, unfortunately I have to side more with Urbanček than with Igor. I'll give one example that bugs me quite a bit personally (because it draws me there, but in such conditions I somehow don't dare): Sentiero Battaglione Gemona along the ridge of Naborje Mountains above Dunja. But - unlike Gola NE - this isn't just a marked passage, but a marked and numbered path under CAI (I think CAI Pontebba, but don't quote me), which crosses a nice ridge with historical significance, on which there are also two bivouacs, and which can make a very nice connecting tour. Well, there was a landslide on this path, if I remember right in 2005, and since then the path is closed, and as far as I know it's already collapsing in several places, but no one has thought to renew it yet. And yes, I dare say that on the Slovenian side something like that would have been done quite a bit faster.
I've usually explained this by location - simple fact is that the Julians are total periphery for Italians, but key mountain group for us. And that shows in visits too - when you go somewhere to the Julians across the border, you mostly meet only Slovenians. Simply, we Slovenians are more attached to these mountains, Italian mountain lovers however prefer to go further west. And there the paths are better maintained too ...
So, that's just my opinion, but I really think that in Italy, at least in the Julians, path maintenance is often not up to the level it is in Slovenia. Maybe my feeling is wrong ...