Pearl 8120 wifi in Italy

I am totally new to BB, haven't even received my new Pearl yet. I'm still struggling to learn how wifi works. Am I correct to assume that when I am in a free wifi spot I can surf the net at no charge to my data plan?
What about overseas? I am going to Italy in a few months and I was wondering if I would be able to send messages and photos home using the free wifi spots over there instead of signing up for an international roaming plan. If so, how do I do that? Would I set up something like a yahoo email account and send messages over that? Are there any apps I should get to make my phone more functional overseas?
Any help would be appreciated.
(I'm really looking forward to getting my first BB!)