Language

• When you’re introduced to an Italian, you should say ‘good day’ (buongiorno) and shake hands (a single pump is enough). ‘Hello’ (ciao) is used among close friends and young people not with strangers. Women may find that some men kiss their hand, although this is rare nowadays.
• They also choose the occasions when they wear jeans carefully, as these aren’t thought appropriate for a classy restaurant or church.
• If you’re invited to dinner by an Italian family (a rare honour), you should take along a small present of flowers, pastries or chocolates. Gifts of foreign food or drink aren’t generally well received unless they’re highly prized in Italy such as single malt whisky.
• Italians say ‘good appetite’ ( buon appetito) before starting a meal. If you’re offered a glass of wine, wait until your host has made a toast (salute!) before drinking.
• When talking to a stranger, particularly older Italians, you should use the formal form of address (lei). Don’t use the familiar form (tu) or call someone by their Christian name until you’re invited to do so.
• Italian families and friends usually kiss when they meet, irrespective of their sex. If a lady expects you to kiss her, she offers her cheek. Between members of the opposite sex the ‘kiss’ is deposited high up on the cheek and isn’t usually really a kiss, more a delicate brushing of the cheeks accompanied by kissing noises.

General Etiquettes

• Breakfast is usually very light in Rome. Most Italians rise to a coffee and, at most, a cornetto (a small breakfast pastry). The idea of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, toasts, and pancakes is just gluttonous.
• Don’t loudly criticize the city’s traffic congestion, food, wait staff, weather. Many locals will be downright offended.
• Eating on the go—such as while you walk or on the bus—is socially sneered at by Romans. It goes against the entire philosophy of Italian eating.
• Ordering coffee with your meal is frowned upon. Italians follow almost kosher rules when it comes to not mixing dairy and meat, so cappuccino or any coffee with milk in it is socially shunned when the clock strikes 12pm.
• Don’t enter the left-hand driving lane, unless you’re passing another car. Italians don’t have the patience and it is considered unsafe driving.
• To fit in, men should never wear shorts, no matter how hot it is outside; women can get away with short shorts as long as they aren’t too revealing and skirts are fair game too. Be aware that Romans cover up well into summers. On the footwear front, wear stylish, clean shoes.