Valentina Nicastro
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been fascinated by the stories behind Italian last names, many of them are like tiny time capsules. And when it comes to the more unusual ones, well, that’s where things get really interesting. Sure, some sound downright hilarious to our modern ears, but behind every quirky last …
Ah, la gelosia! That passionate mix of love, doubt, and a few overreactions we’d rather forget. In Italian, this word sounds and means pretty much the same as “jealousy” in English, but it hides another meaning that might just surprise you. Curious? Let’s find out what it is! Gelosia But first, a quick grammar note: …
Why just say something “clearly” when you could declare it papal papal and make it sound like a divine decree? Or call a silly argument “pointless” when you could roll your eyes and dismiss it as goat’s wool? In Italian, idioms like these are everywhere, making our speech super colourful… though they often sound hilariously …
The word sacco in Italian has several meanings. It can mean a sack, the punching bag you hit at the gym, or even a big pile of something. We also use it informally to mean “a ton” or “loads.” Sacco Sacco is a masculine noun, so it’s il sacco in the singular form and i …
Each cambio di stagione (change of season), we promise ourselves to do a bit of decluttering (yep, we love this English word in Italian, too!). To do that, of course, we need to eliminate things, to get rid of them. But how do we actually say get rid of something in Italian? In this article, …
Did you know that venire (to come) is the base for a series of everyday Italian verbs? By simply adding a prefix, we get words like intervenire (to intervene), prevenire (to prevent), or svenire (to faint). Today’s word, convenire, is part of this family of verbs, and it’s a very interesting one! Let’s explore all …