How to make friends in Italy

We have been talking about loneliness when you are abroad, let's now talk about how to make friends (locals and other expats) when you're living in Italy :top:

Which are your best tips to meet people and to make friends in Italy??

Thanks in advance for your participation

In Firenze and looking for others who enjoy knitting, quilting, crochet, embroidery. Or people who are in or want to start a book club. Anyone out there?

The best advice I can offer, after several years of living in both the north and the south,  is to live in the SOUTH...from Naples on downward to Sicily.  The people in the South are most friendly, welcoming, warm and love making new friends.  Forget the north  at all costs, especially Piemonte !!!   After 1 week  of living in 2 different villages  in the south...1 in Campania and 1 in Sicilia,  I had made many good, close friends and knew many people.  Soon after moving to those villages I was invited  to their homes for lunch, dinner, family gatherings,  weddings  etc.  They are wonderful people..the TRUE ITALY!  The north..FORGET IT !! ..After more than  a year in Piemonte...not 1 person ..not even  next-door neighbors, storekeepers,  ANYBODY.... introduced themselves nor said Buon giorno!  I knew nobody.   The Piemontese are cold, rude, unfriendly, suspicious, narcissistic...we call them "meschino".  One could be dead in the street and the Northerners would  not notice except to learn what they could steal from your pockets while they are glued mindlessly to a stupid cellphone  The people in the north are cellphone addicted zombies.  The Southern People are real people.  It's really 2 different countries with respect to culture, tradition and humanity.