Actually it's a Windows 8 (Server 2012) issue. In Windows 8 the it-IT culture was updated to use .
instead of :
as it used to in Windows 7. In 8.1 it was updated again to :
after some feedback from customers.
You can see that in Control Panel if you have a Windows 7 or 8.1 machine vs a Windows 8 machine. Culture data shouldn't be considered stable (except for Invariant)
Azure Websites are currently using Windows 8 (Server 2012) VMs
Windows 7 and 8.1
Windows 8
for a workaround please check Shawn Steele
reply here
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/bf5fa2c1-b6ce-4e4e-b9dd-17191afca4be/web-services-culture?forum=windowsazurewebsitespreview&prof=required