Everyone loves a feel-good movie, and Pixar’s latest release ‘Luca‘ will certainly fits the bill thanks to its loveable characters, whimsical plot and stunning (albeit animated) views of the Ligurian coastline.
The story follows the eponymous Luca, a teenage sea monster who, much like Ariel in the Little Mermaid, wishes to experience life on land. Unlike mermaids, however, sea monsters don’t need the help of villainous sea witches to become human: they automatically assume human form when they leave the sea!
Accompanied by his friend Alberto, Luca secretly leaves his underwater home to explore the fictional seaside town of Portorosso. After a few failed attempts to build a Vespa out of scrap material, the duo decide to enter the Portorosso Cup Triathlon with the help of their new human friend Giulia. Their dream? To win enough money to buy a real Vespa!
What does Alberto say in Luca in Italian at the end of the movie?
In order to give the movie a more authentic Italian flavour, director Enrico Casarosa (who is Italian) and the writers made the decision to pepper the dialogue with numerous words and phrases in Italian.
Although most of these Italian lines aren’t translated into English, it isn’t a big deal as you can usually guess the meaning from the context. There is one line, however, that has left Luca fans scratching their heads:
Piacere Girolamo Trombetta!
Said by Alberto at the end of the movie, it is translated in the subtitles as simply (Greeting in Italian).
Want to know what this greeting means? Then keep on reading!
Piacere on its own is a classic greeting in Italian which means “Nice to meet you!” or “It’s a pleasure to meet you!” It is also a noun that means “pleasure / favour” and a verb that means “to please“.
– Mi chiamo Marco, piacere! = My name’s Marco, nice to meet you!
– Mi fa piacere vederti. = I’m happy to see you. (lit: Seeing you pleases me.)
– È sempre un piacere rivederti. = It’s always a pleasure to see you.
– Mi faresti un piacere? = Would you do me a favour?
The name Girolamo Trombetta is where things get a little more complicated!
According to the director, it is a play-on-words that was popular amongst children in the Ligurian town where he grew up. The first name Girolamo sounds a bit like giro la mano (which means “I twist my hand“) whereas the surname Trombetta means “trumpet“. In fact, if you watch the scene closely, you’ll see that the boys actually do a handshake that involves twisting the hands and pulling back, as if they were playing a trumpet.
The same line and gesture actually appear in an earlier scene, in which Luca and Alberto meet for the very first time.
According to Italians on Twitter, there are other variations on this phrase that use different names. Unfortunately most of them are too rude to talk about here!
What was your favourite scene in Luca? Let us know in the comments below! 🙂
Are you curious about the other Italian phrases that appear in Luca? Then head on over to our dedicated article where we list them all! ⬇️
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.
