I think that a big part of the gap in case numbers between the UK and Italy is down to luck, with a further portion down to our not testing enough people (for instance, the gvt just stopped community testing in the UK entirely). Kissing on the cheek may be a small factor too, but it's hardly the only way to catch this.
You can't tell me people in the UK are especially hygienic - handwashing stats etc are OK, but not drastically different to other European countries https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/revealed-dutch-are-least-hygienic-europeans, and other countries with better stats than us, e.g. Germany and Sweden, have apparently been hit harder by Covid19 so far.
Meanwhile, the UK's population density is higher than Italy's (274 vs 200 people per square km), and we have many fewer doctors, nurses, hospital beds and ITU beds while also having a very elderly population. We're having the same numbers of new cases per day now that they were two weeks ago... and there's nothing about the current response that reassures me we won't be in similar straits or worse to the ones they are in now before the month is up.