I got yelled at by a little old lady on the tram today for swinging my legs in an attempt to keep them warm. I didnt understand a word of what she said, but her gestures made it pretty obvious--first, no lady swings her legs; rather, she crosses them neatly underneath the seat (that is, if she can reach the floor, which i cannot). Second, there is a distinct invisible line between the seats that face each other, and one should not cross said invisible line unless one wants a smackdown. Third, the man who I was facing (and whose space I supposedly invaded, though he didnt seem to care) was to give his seat up to any other little old lady who wanted it. Fourth, the sea of people should automatically part whenever the little old lady wanted to get off the tram.
That said, she was the only grouchy person I've met so far. Most people have been really helpful and have spoken really slow Italian to us when we try to put together a few words to ask about something. When Vanessa and I tried to find laundry detergent that wasn't reeking with some strong chemical scent (which is almost impossible to find in this country), we asked a random lady in the grocery store, and she spent a good ten minutes trying to help us. So even though the mean old lady was, well, mean and old, I don't think she's a good representative for the rest of the country.