Proper etiquette at the table is a little different in Italy than in the U.S. Cutlery is laid out with the 
forks on the left, with spoons, knives and napkins on the right. Your napkin should always be placed in your lap immediately. If there is a bread plate, it will be on the left. Make sure you don't use the one to your right, which will be for your neighbor.
It is considered impolite to keep your hands in your lap in the American fashion. Both forearms should rest on the table, but not the elbows. (Some scholars believe that this is a holdover from earlier times when it was feared that one might be concealing a dagger in the hidden hand).
The biggest difference is this: you use the fork with your left hand, the knife and spoon with your right, without any switching.
When you are finished, leave your cutlery on the plate with spoon and fork pointing upward, and the cutting edge of the knife on the inside.
