Italy has always been very tempting to people from other countries. This is very true especially for English speaking. Italians are warm people who are proud of their country and heritage and understand the meaning of human. Language is not hard to learn for people with little efforts, besides living inside the country gives enormous opportunity to improve your Italian skills.
For italians good manners are number one priority. When coming and going its accepted to shake hands, women kiss each other cheeks and sometimes men may slap each other's back. If you wish to make present to Italian remember they prefer quality products - it may be small, but quality is a must. Life in Italy is not so expensive, exceptions may be some of the biggest cities - Rome, Milan, Venice, etc, but as a general prices seems competitive.
Italy has gone through a lot of changes and times during past centuries so you can expect a lot of historical monuments and buildings to be found everywhere. One thing is true - if you go to Italy you will remember it for the rest of your life