re: Italians love them some motor scooters and cigarettes.

When I was in Rome we rented an apartment with a balcony overlooking one of the piazzas. We would sit on the balcony and watch everyone just barely missing each other as they went through the intersections. Every time there was a red light to stop cars all of the scooters would go around the cars through the oncoming lane of traffic to get to the front.