Italian Hand Kiss Etiquette

An Italian man kisses the right hand of his mother, aunt or elderly friend and the left hand of his sweetheart.

If the woman who visits Rome wishes to follow tradition and “do as the Romans do,” she will be careful never to take her escort’s arm in a Catholic church. Indeed, the guides instruct those who stroll innocently arm in arm about St. Peter’s looking at the pictures, frescoes and altars of that wonderful cathedral, that they are committing an impropriety. Italians are very particular about the etiquette of kissing the hand. 

A man kisses the right hand of his mother, aunt or elderly friend and the left hand of his sweetheart. It is not permitted him to kiss the palm of the hand except in great and affectionate intimacy. It is regarded as a token that he is very much in love. Upon arriving at a formal dinner a gentleman takes the hand of his hostess and bends low over it as if about to kiss it, but does not do so. After dinner etiquette demands that he take her hand again and kiss it. —New York World, 1893

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Vatican Etiquette and a Pope's Dance

Pope Pius X declared tango dancing as immoral in 1913, and off-limits to Catholics. But when the tango proved to be too popular to declare "off-limits," Pope Pius X tried a different tactic, mocking the tango as "one of the dullest things imaginable," and recommending people take up dancing the furlana instead, a popular Venetian dance from the 17th and 18th centiuries. By February of 1914, the New York Times was reporting: 
"POPE'S DANCE' IS THE RAGE; The Furlana Now Rivals the Tango in Popularity Among Italians.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times"

The Vatican authorities have given the strictest notice to those who recommend people for audience with the Pope that they must guarantee that such persons will conform to Vatican etiquette in kneeling and kissing the hand of the Pope. This notification was issued as a result of the conduct of some Americans, a few weeks ago, who refused to kneel when the Pope appeared. — The Sausalito News, 1904

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia