When one travels and sees a school child with a cigarrette, certain questions naturally occur: is that child within rights to smoke? Stepping into a local bar or pub, and having to avoid tripping over bookbags brings to mind a similar question.
The drinking age is 16, but is not always enforced. The Italian teens I noticed drinking were about 18/19; so it's a relatively unspoken rule that teens don't drink. Smoking, on the other hand, was not restricted--I noticed one teen of about 14 with a cigarrette, and no one treated it as out-of-ordinary.
As for sex, the legal age listed is 14; I'm not sure as to whether this is the norm or not, I never really noticed young Italians exhibiting overt displays of affection. Few where I lived seemed to date.
The driving age in Italy is 18/19. Yet again, very few teens seem to drive; gasoline is expensive, and the transit system is very good.
Teen Fashion
To bring attention back to the bookbags, you'll notice they are very colorful. Obscenely so, almost...the Italian teens, like most other teens, will take a fashion idea and push it to the extreme. Platform shoes were in style while I was over, and I observed some girls with six inch platform soles walking up a vertical street. They were loaded down with their oversized colorful backpacks.
However, you'll find once they are out of school, the fashion becomes basic black with some colors thrown in. It is true many places in Italy are in touch with the latest fashion (good and bad), and most people spend a good portion of their earnings to stay in fashion...or to keep their children in fashion.
An interesting fact about Italian teen fashion: it doesn't influence the rest of Italian fashion as it generally does in America. One of the reasons the difference between the packs of teenagers and the groups of young adults are easily noted.English Language and the Italian Teen
One reason I comment on teenagers is that I had the pleasure to help a couple with their English, and they with my Italian. While it is a class offered in their secondary schools, I met very few who spoke fluently. One teen had a father fluent in English, yet took very little time to learn any himself...at least at his age.
While that doesn't sound promising, if you happen to be in Italy any length of time, in one location, I recommend finding a way to volunteer as a "speech buddy" with an interested teen. You'll learn quite a bit of the culture first hand. Rachele's family invited me home often, and I was able to visit an Italian farm and share dinner in a family setting.
Teens Roam in Groups?
If you happen to take the early morning train, any car you sit in will have at least five, at most...well, you'll have to go to another car. Since they do not have a cafeteria (unless you count the 'mesa', which is optional for students), the students leave school for lunch. In smaller towns, you may be competing with a teen for table space or food service. My suggestion is to put off lunch until after they're done. Usually takes about 30-40 minutes for them to head back to school.
After school, the older teens are more visible. There are no malls in Italy (at least, not at the time I visited), so teenagers do walk the main roads and gather together in the main piazzas, usually spreading across the steps as seen in the picture above (taken during lunch time in Perugia).