1448 Voting

I'm an Italian citizen and have recently moved to Italy. I have residency in my Comune and have been issued a voting card.
This voting card is stamped each time you go to vote so a record is kept of when you do vote, and therefore it's easy to work out when you don't vote!
I travel a lot and spend around half my time out of Italy. Consequently I miss elections. So far I've missed the election for the regional assembly this year and a referendum held recently.
I've read that if you miss 3 consecutive elections you lose certain rights and other things.
It was all very vague. Does anyone know if this is true? And what it is exactly that I lose? And are all elections included in the 3 strikes (i.e. referendums as well) or only the proper elections when you're voting for representatives?
Many thanks if anyone can shed some light on this.
Richard