Indecision between PhD and industry First a little bit of background.

I am a graduate student (Bachelor) who will finish the Master degree in June or July at most. I am working on my thesis at my university with a professor which I know quite well. I am getting a Master of Electronics Engineering, thus my thesis includes some practical work and I got to know a lot of people at the Information Engineering department. I think that the work they do here is great and valuable, and so is the people.

Meanwhile there's a friend of mine who works for a quite big company near my local university. They are hiring young graduates for open-ended positions and I am very likely to be hired if I do an interview. My friend was with me at the university for five years now, we did much work together and I'd love to work with him, plus he tells me that the work environment is great.

The problem is that I would love to teach. Some people think I am quite good at what I study and quite good at explaining things to people. I love the idea of spreading knowledge, helping students understand things and pretty much all what's involved in the teaching process. To achieve this I will need to apply (and hopefully win) for a PhD, that I thought I can do at my local university because of what stated in the first paragraph, and because my girlfriend is currently studying here too so moving is an option that I'd like to avoid for now.

What keeps me to just jump in the Academic world is the fact that in my country (Italy) things seems to be a little stagnant, there are great people in their forties that are still associate (or researchers!) while some old professors (very, very bad at teaching) hold more than one chair. And of course from the economic point of view there might be a gap as high as 10x between industry and academy, but happiness can't be bought of course.

My question then is: given the fact that I am sure I would love to become a professor but the road might be hard (too hard maybe) would you advise me to take a PhD (that's three years here) and at least try the academic path or leave it already and hit the job market head on? Are there many downsights in starting an industry career after a PhD?
First, we have 26 questions tagged phd+industry. Nothing that is a direct duplicate, but I'd still recommend you browse through them. This question and this question appear especially relevant.

Second, it will be hard for us to really answer your question, because we simply are not in your position. Yes, staying in academia and getting tenure is hard, and most people drop out. Until you get tenure, you will work your backside off. If you really love it, you can take the risk, but be prepared for a long, hard slog.

Third, that said, a couple of specific comments. You write that you love to teach. On the one hand, that raises a bit of a red flag to me, because teaching is not necessarily the top responsibility for a professor. Publications are far more important. If you want to become a professor, you will spend a decade writing papers and doing your teaching "on the side"... because you won't be able to get tenure based on your teaching alone. You can relax the research part and concentrate on teaching after getting tenure.

I am not familiar with the system in Italy. Im Germany, there are universities of applied sciences (used to be called Fachhochschule, nowadays Hochschule). You'll apply for a professorship there if you have a Ph.D. and at least five years experience in industry. Then you will do a lot of teaching. Teaching load at Hochschulen is twice as high as at "regular" universities and very applied, and conversely, you are really not expected to do a lot of research. If something comparable exists in Italy, this may be a potential career route for you.

Then again, if you just like to teach, you could try to go into industry and get a job as a trainer. You won't need a Ph.D. for that (in fact, you'd probably be overqualified with a Ph.D.). However, note that trainers are often on the road a lot.