Failed attempt at an Italian conversation

My parents are on a trip to Italy at the moment. An idea of my mum, I think, who got envious of my trips around Europe and more particularly of my time in Italy ten years ago. They travelled shortly before all Hell broke loose, so I was getting worried about them. I didn't want to be worried and did not want them to worry about us worrying, but my wife insisted that I checked if they were all right, so I called their hotel in Italy. I couldn't get through them (they had left for the day), but I got the info that they were there and as far as I could tell they were fine.

Anyway, this is the background to the main topic. I was hoping to have a little bit of Italian conversation, see if I could actually made myself understood by the locals. I had prepare a little introduction "Buona sera. Mi chiamo Guglielmo... sono il figlio d'il signor... e di la signora..." There must have been mistakes in my speech, but I think it was acurate enough to be understood. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have translated my own name (did I ever said that I actually have a complete Italian name, first and family name included, that my friends gave me?), but nevermind, I think it was quite good. I wanted to carry on the conversation in English (my Italian being limited), but I wanted to break the ice in the local language. Partially to practice a bit, partially by pride, I guess. Of course, when I got through to the reception, I froze completely, blabbered a bad mix of Italian and English, didn't even finish my introduction in Italian and reintroduced myself in English, sounding dazed and confused. They must have thought I was quite stupid. Maybe they would have been right. I was certainly overconfident.