Valentina Nicastro
Say you are meeting your Italian relatives after a long time. What’s the first thing you are likely to do? Most probably, comment on just how much time has flown since the last time you saw each other. Or maybe you were watching your little nephew, who went from toddler to teenager in what feels …
Say the word frizzante (fizzy, sparkling, bubbly) out loud: freet-TSAHN-teh. Don’t you feel those tiny bubbles almost popping on your tongue? That’s the beauty of certain Italian words: they express their meaning through the way they sound. I’ll share a few below. Some of these will make you laugh, others will make you want to whisper …
Certain Italian words are really difficult to translate — not because English is short on vocabulary, but because it lacks the context that gives those words their meaning. For instance, you can translate sistemarsi as “to settle down,” sure. But it fails to capture the fact that this is the ultimate Italian merit badge, unlockable …
Italian has the perfect word to complain about everything: fastidio. A person walks slower than us on the sidewalk and won’t move to the side? Che fastidio. Someone chewing with their mouth open two tables away? Mi dà troppo fastidio. Those high heels that looked so cute in the store but are now destroying our feet? Uuuh, un …
If an Italian tells you they have influenza, don’t immediately reach for the hand sanitiser. Yes, we might be home in bed, surviving on broth and re-rurns, but we could just as easily be casually letting you know we have certain power and connections. Because the word influenza in Italian wears two hats: it means …
Il pane (bread) is one of those things that’s never missing from an Italian table. Even when there are already enough carbs on the plate and it’s clearly not needed for the meal. It doesn’t matter, it’s just there: in a basket, still inside the bakery bag, or scattered across the set table, quietly waiting …