Actually, that kiss is/was not all that uncommon amongst Italian men. I remember seeing my grandparents, uncles and friends of the family kissing each other like that. It usually was over some big emotional occasion, either a wedding, birth of a baby, death, etc. There was no stigma associated to that kind of kiss between an Italian man and another Italian man who was either a relative or very, very close. I can't speak for other Italian groups or families, but that is how my family and friends of our family acted sometimes.

~~ Lolly