Italian Word of the Day: Aiuola (flowerbed)

One of the hardest words to pronounce in Italian for English speakers is the feminine noun aiuola, which means flowerbed. Why is it so difficult, you might ask? Well, it has a lot to do with the presence of four adjacent vowel sounds, a phenomenon that doesn’t really occur in English.

/a·iuò·la/
italian word aiuola

In fact, the plural aiuole contains all five vowels in the Italian alphabet – a, e, i, o and u – broken up only by the lonely consonant L!

Here are the definite and indefinite articles that should be used with this word:

  • l’aiuola = the flowerbed
  • le aiuole = the flowerbeds
  • un’aiuola = a flowerbed
  • (delle) aiuole = (some) flowerbeds
The girl plants flowers in the flowerbed.

Non calpestare l’aiuola!

Don’t walk on the flowerbed!


Aiuola can be used to refer to a plot in a garden, the bed around the edge of a lawn, or the earth prepared for the growing of plants.

Aiuola spartitraffico, which literally translates as “traffic-separating flowerbed”, is the term used to describe the strip of land between the carriageways of a freeway or other major road. In English, we call this a central reservation or median strip.

Aerial picture of an empty road, green central reservation and a parking lot.

There is another word, which is easier to pronounce for learners, and that is aiola (you basically drop the “u”). They’re perfect synonyms, but aiuola is considered more literary so it’s not uncommon to hear Italians say aiola instead.

Si dice aiola o aiuola? Tu lo sai?

Do you say “aiola” or “aiuola”? Do you know?


Ethics statement: Below you will find affiliate links. If you buy something after clicking the link, we will receive a small commission. To know more about our ethics, you can visit our full disclosure page. Thank you!

Lingopie (affiliate link) is the Netflix of language learning application that uses real TV shows and movies to help you learn a new language. You can choose a show to watch based on your fluency level, and use the interactive subtitles to get instant translations to help you learn quickly.

Are you interested in improving your Italian in a fun and stress-free manner? Then we highly recommend Serena Capilli's short stories in Italian (affiliate link), designed for beginners, advanced beginners, and lower intermediate learners (A1-B1 CEFR). These stories have been optimised for English speakers in search of a fun, laid-back learning experience! Read our full review here.


Leave a Comment