The word for the violent noise something makes when it smashes against a hard surface is fracasso (masculine, plural: fracassi) in Italian. Derived from the verb fracassare, it best translates into English as to smash.
Learn about ‘fracasso’ with our video
Il vaso si è rotto con gran fracasso.
The vase broke with a loud smash.
More generally, fracasso can refer to a loud noise or racket of any kind.
I bambini stanno facendo troppo fracasso nel cortile. Lo farò presente alla prossima riunione di condominio.
The children are making too much of a racket in the courtyard. I’ll point it out at the next condominium meeting.
Figuratively this includes the public expression of protest or outrage in response to a scandal or sensational event. When used in this sense of the word, you’ll often see it accompanied by the verb fare (to do/make):
- fare fracasso = to cause an uproar
- fare gran / molto fracasso = to cause a great uproar
La notizia del suo arresto ha fatto molto fracasso.
The news of his arrest caused a great uproar.
In informal Italian, fracasso (di) is an accepted synonym for molto (a lot of / many).
C’era un fracasso di gente alla festa di Beatrice.
There were lots of people at Beatrice’s party.
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Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
