The obligatory kiss on the cheek...
My father and elder brother came to visit our family while we were living in Italy. It didn't take long for them to get comfortable with the Italian custom of kissing on the cheek as a greeting or farewell. 
The proper way of doing this is to touch the other persons cheek with your cheek and kiss the air (first on the left side and then on the right side from the perspective of the giver). Gender is unimportant (e.g., man to woman, woman to woman, child to adult, even man to man).When we returned to the United States, Anne-Marie was so used to this form of greeting that when an elderly neighbor leaned towards her (for no apparent reason), she leaned into him and kissed him on the cheek. This caused quite a reaction from our good neighbor who was probably thinking "my wife will never believe this!"
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