That's wrong. Candidates (mostly) are not running independently, they run as parties' nominees. Who is nominating them should be written on the ballot.
And they're free to include that information in the pamphlet of positions and statements that comes with your ballot.
I wouldn't want any additional material coming with my ballot.
Well I'm not sure how it's done in Italy, but California absentee ballots always come with a voter information guide. I'm not sure what's wrong with that.
Well in Italy to my knowledge the only people who vote "absentee" are Italians living abroad, who are sent mail ballots complete of voter instructions etc. by the government.
Also, in Italy it's mostly open party-list proportional representation, so a different ballgame.