Italians

Italians tend to shake hands to greet each other. If they are close friends they may kiss on both cheeks: this happens particularly on special occasions such as meeting after (or leaving for) a long time, weddings, funerals and other important or solemn situations.
If you ask “Come stai?” you may not always get the standard answer “Bene grazie, e lei?”. You may get instead a series of complaints about their blood pressure or duodenal ulcer in which case you are advised to nod and shake your head for a reasonable amount of time, pretending that you understand and commiserate, and then try to manoeuvre the conversation to a more pleasant topic.

Vittoria Bowles, Teach Yourself – Beginner’s Italian, An easy introduction.

(Grazie a Benedetta per avermi spedito il testo!)