Good manners have been vital to Italians since at least the Renaissance. The 16th century gave us two fundamental treatises on the subject: Baldassarre Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier and Monsignor Della Casa’s Galateo overo de’ costumi shed light on navigating the insidious life of Italian courts. Both books can be summed up pretty well in one line: pick a side, learn some etiquette and avoid getting murdered or poisoned along the way.

Today, the risk of ending up with a knife in your back has been significantly reduced (at least physically), but learning how to behave in public remains a thorny matter, starting from courteous communication.