Driving in Southern Italy: Nuts in Naples!

I just returned from a business trip to Naples and it is nearly impossible to adequately describe the utter chaos there known to many as "driving."  The only place I've ever seen that was remotely comparable was Cairo, but there they have an excuse: "my other car" is usually a camel.First is the honking: in Naples, you are taught to drive with one hand on the wheel (actually, this is just a suggestion, not a requirement) and the other tooting on your tiny horn, so to speak.  You might be the 10th car in line, waiting at a red light, but the instant the light turns green, it is your job, as a resident of Naples, to begin incessant honking, just in case all 9 vehicles ahead of you somehow had fallen asleep in the last several seconds.  When driving the wrong way on a small, one-way street, honking evidently serves as your get-out-of-jail-free card.  Ditto for running a red light or passing using a sidewalk.
Fascinating is the role played by religion in all of this: the very first thing my taxi driver did when I plopped into the back seat was to lovingly touch a circular decal of Jesus on the inside of his windshield, say a few words quietly, then cross himself and turn to me in the back, with a knowing look, as if to say, "I think we both could use all the help we can get."  The man obviously knows his city.
The rules regarding passing on roads in Naples clearly state that...this is a trick statement.  It is abundantly clear that there are no such things.  You pass where you want to, when you want to, and regardless of width of street.  Again, "utter chaos" simply doesn't do this situation justice.
You might ask about the condition of the cars there.  As my sons would sum up in a single acronym: POSs, one and all.  You can count the dents by the dozens and only Stevie Wonder would consider driving a nice car into the city center.
The amazing thing is how many police cars there are in downtown Naples.  The one thing they most clearly are there *not* to do is enforce anything resembling a traffic law.  Let's just put it this way: being a traffic cop in Naples is about as rewarding and fulfilling a job as being, say, a visiting rabbi in downtown Teheran...