The Italians make most of the high end hiking, skiing, hunting and mountaineering boots. My Telemark ski boots are made by Scarpa. Other excellent brands are Crispi and Garmont. These companies make many kinds of boots. Choose by how they fit your foot. Scarpa has a reputation in ski boots as fitting narrow feet, and Garmont as fitting wide feet best. I guess Crispi brings up the middle ground.
My motorcycle boots are also made in Italy by TCX. They are light years ahead of cheap Chinese motorcycle boots. My Danner Ft. Lewis boots are authorized military motorcycle boots, but my TCX boots are much better.
Danner boots are good, but what they want for the American made Danners will get you into or almost into the top end Italian boots. A Chevrolet Corvette is a nice sports car, but what we would want even more would be a Ferrari. The top end Italian boots are Ferraris for your feet. However, an American Danner should beat anything coming out of China.
Not as well known as Danner, the Cove Shoe Company has been building boots in the USA for the military as good as Danner at a lower price. The local Army-Navy store sells a lot of them to police and other service personnel. They are nice, but they are still not Italian. Worth looking into. The make the Tanker boots and Army jump boots, among other styles.
If you want a lower price than Italian, look at boots coming out of Romania. The ski boot manufacturers are having some of their boots made in Romania. I have some Rossignol cross country ski boots made in Romania, and they are good quality for $200. The workmanship seems almost as good as Italian. To stay competitive, the Italian manufacturers are sending some of their production there. The Austrian Fischer ski company now has many of their skis made in Romania, and Fischer takes more Nordic skiing wins than all other brands combined. Eastern Europe seems to be the new place to build top quality footwear at a reasonable price.
My LL Bean Cresta hikers were once made in Italy. The replacement pair I recently ordered says made in Romania. I can't tell any appreciable difference between the Italian and Romanian boots. Style and weight are identical, and they feel the same on my feet.
Just keep your money and your feet out of China, whatever you do.