I’ve jotted down my notes on the present subjunctive tense (il congiuntivo presente) - one that is in decline in English, but which continues to flourish in contemporary Italian.
My teacher held off introducing us to the subjunctive tenses until our 4th year, because she says that they can be difficult for foreign students to learn. She also thinks that the extent to which an Italian speaker applies the subjunctives is related to the extent of their education!
Cute analogy, but one mia moglie di Calabria is bound to dispute!

Again, please let me know of any glaring errors - I’m happy to make corrections!

A quick overview of the post:
- Overview, Common uses, Regular conjugations, Regular conjugations (-iare verbs), Regular conjugations (-care, -gare verbs), Irregular conjugations, Impersonal expressions, Subordinate expressions

Here are some links that give some more background information. Enjoy!
About.com: Italian language
Wikipedia(as with all the Wikipedia references, this one is very basic. I’ve really only included it in the hope that it gives you something of interest - caveat emptor!)
italian language guide (a pretty thin reference, but it discusses some more obscure use of the present subjunctive)