I just returned from a month in Italy and France. I used my American Airlines Aviator Master Card which has a chip. I used the card for gas purchases, in restaurants and grocery stores. Only one gas purchase was at a manned station the rest were self service. Insert the card and enter the pin. Worked fine in both countries. The instructions on the display were in Italian or French. I speak neither but with a little guess work it became easy to use.
In restaurants and grocery stores the chip was used but always required a signature. Well almost always. One time I used the pin but I can't remember what the circumstances were.
I never tried the chip/pin at a toll both. I used it a a car park several times. The machine seemed to read the chip and completed the transaction with no pin required.
I used a regular stripe debit card at cash machines to withdraw cash. I experienced no problems and most of those machines offered English instructions.