I am Italian and a common exchange of information in Italy between people of different nationalities is about cultural traditions, regions and images of people of their countries.
Generally, we start meeting a new person by shaking hands and telling our own name, like here in Ireland, but not necessarily. Sometimes, for Italians, the situation depends on the sex. In fact, an exchange of two kisses can often happen between newly-introduced male and female, as you know we are famous Latin lovers. The right manner for those two kisses is to do it in the correct way: the right one is first and left one is second, which is completely  the opposite to Spanish people’s kisses.

I know, sometimes it’s very difficult to choose how to go ahead, but don’t worry if you are not sure, just go present yourself in a good way.
The other difference is the age of the person you meet. If it is a young person then you can start with shaking hands or a kiss, but if it is a formal occasion you have to shake hands only.

And one more difference depends on the region of origin. For example, I am from North Italy; we are generally colder and less expansive than our brothers and sisters from  the centre or south. They are more smiling and friendlier. They transmit more energy and shine when they approach someone new.

You can imagine that in Italy there are 27 regions, and only in the region where I come from there are more inhabitants than in the entire Republic of Ireland. This is interesting because in a country like Italy there are more possibilities to find some cultural and traditional differences between people of different regions