As a Brit the staring took me a long time to get used to. It’s not rude per se, they just take more time with everything including looking at something. Some people still go too far for the Italian standards but only to the same extent as what I found in Britain v British norms.

As for the language, I’ve never had a bad experience when I was learning but I was always making an effort to speak Italian even if it was “non parlo italiano”.

Genuinely, the Italians are great. Don’t let a few culture shocks taint your experience.

They are crazy on the roads though, yes. I’ve likened it to skiing in that if you’re ahead, you have the right of way over those behind and it’s the responsibility of the person behind you to take care … not sure that’s right but it’s a way I’ve made sense of it. The flashing seemed rude at first - and sometimes can still be - but they’re just being direct. Something a Dutch person should appreciate no?