Good points (CZ)enda... and no, there are not many Unos in Italy - more Tipos, but mostly much newer cars.
Also I don't accept the idea from jug that the Uno was dated when it was new. Just look at some of the styling features! For example, the way the doors run into the roof so that there are no gutters. How many other cars in 1983 were like this? Certainly, popular new cars like the Honda Civic and Austin Metro were not.
What about construction details like the bolt-on wings and the lights at the edges of panels rather than mounted in holes? Plastic wheel arch liners and almost flush-mounted door windows? Single wiper and seats mounted on sideways rails, using levers so the seats would raise when brought forward? All of this was more adventurous than the norm - it was the future.
And the plastic bumpers - all-plastic, not just plastic strips on steel bumpers... and the door handles (not chromed, but sophisticated designs)... I'm not saying that any of these features have no drawbacks, but at the same time, they made the Uno cutting-edge. There was never any question of the interior - the only other car that was as radical was the Citroen Visa...
By the time of the 1989 facelift, the large square-ish headlights looked dated rather than 'clean' - but that goes for most of the late 80's designs as well. e.g. FIAT's own Croma/Lancia Thema. Notice how new cars are being fitted with larger headlights again - probably because larger headlights work better?
So if you feel the Uno was dated when 'new' in 1988, possibly. But this is a 1983 design, remember... and most of those techniques (bonded panels, plastic lights, etc.) still hold true today. Perhaps compare with the model before the Uno, the 127...
Attached is a 'chance' pic that shows the Uno juxtaposed with other cars both newer and older. Form your own conclusions... Since modern cars are taller and contain simple plane surfaces (fewer 'fiddly bits' for a smoother shape), to me it's obvious that the Uno is more modern than the 3-series BMW several years its junior, or the Honda Civic that is just a little over-trimmed (protruding skirts and vents), clouding the basic outline. The '86 Corolla still has gutters, for goodness sakes... As for the 70's designs (Escort and Corona), I don't see the same form at all. There are quarterlights and flared wheelarches. The Escort shows the 'coke bottle' shape fashionable in the days before wind tunnels, and the Corona looks like a scaled-down American coupe. I don't see how the Uno could be mistaken for a 70's car.
My 164 (shown below) is a design that was actually new in 1988. Since chiselled lines are always in fashion, do you think it looks dated now? Why?
-Alex