Kissing identity card of ITALY

I will start with my country a series of "kissing identity cards", that is summaries about the practice of the cheek kissing in European countries.

Who kisses who (genders):
women kiss women, men kiss women, men may kiss men (relatives or close friends)
Number of kisses: 2 (standard) or 3
Starting from: the left cheek (your right)
Whom to kiss:
- relatives
- friends
- acquaintances (usually not upon first meeting)
DO kiss:
- upon meeting relatives (even every day, depends on people)
- upon meeting or leaving friends you haven't met or won't meet for a long time
- to express congratulations (e.g. marriage) or wishes (e.g. Christmas, birthday)
- to thank someone you know (e.g. for a gift)
- to show affection (to relatives and close friends)
DO NOT kiss:
- upon meeting or leaving someone you see everyday (except relatives)
- upon meeting someone for the first time
- in formal situations

More about Italy (with my personal experience)

I would like to write again about kissing in Italy. I am a little afraid that someone may have got from my previous post the idea that Italians rarely kiss on the cheeks. No, that's false. For example, if you meet a close relative, you may kiss every day, even if much depends on the person. My mother's mum kiss me everytime we meet, while my father's parents are more reserved and don't kiss me much.
This has a reason: one day, when I was a child, I stopped accepting and giving cheek kisses. I couldn't even see two people kiss. This might have been a reaction against two many kisses (you know, the affectionate noisy kisses that grannies and aunts give to children). Anyway, I went on until 14 years without kissing anybody. Then, I understood this would have been a problem in my life, so I started kissing people on the cheeks. Well, I don't kiss so many people because I am rather shy and don't know many girls (I have never found it easy to kiss male friends; I just kiss my father, grandfather and sometimes my uncles, but not that often), but I enjoy this gesture.
Back to my previous post, when I say that we don't kiss at first meeting, this is the rule: anyway that may happen, but mostly among young people, as cheek kissing is not very widespread among aged people. Personally, when I meet a girl for the first time, I shake her hand or simply say "hello, nice to meet you".
Another point about greeting in Italy is when we join a group of people. We usually don't kiss everybody, unless we are real friends or haven't met for a long time, and, if there are a lot of people, we just greet verbally (Ciao, "Hello", or Buongiorno, "Good morning"). In other countries, by contrast, you are seen as impolite if you don't greet each one of the people you meet (either by kissing or by shaking hands).
The "kissing on the cheeks" topic is far more complicated than one would think, isn't it?
Feel free to leave comments to my posts and to write about customs in your country (even outside Europe).