Binario is one of those Italian words that caused me an enormous amount of confusion for years, so in this article, my goal is to make it simple and clear for you.
binario
But first, a quick look at the grammar. Binario is a masculine noun that takes the following definite and indefinite articles:
- il binario = the track
- i binari = the tracks
- un binario = a track
- dei binari = (some) tracks
I binari, in essence, is simply another way of referring to le rotaie – the parallel tracks used by i treni (trains) to travel from one destination to another. You will often see it used in its plural form, even though in English we can translate it using singular nouns such as track, railway, railroad or line.
Lo sai che è vietato attraversare i binari.
You know that crossing the tracks is prohibited.
Qui i binari si dividono in due.
Here the track splits in two.
What I found particularly confusing as a learner of Italian is that, at the train station, binario often shows up in announcements and signs in a way that makes it seem like it refers to the platform. In reality, though, binario still refers to the railway track itself – it’s just that Italians give numbers to the tracks rather than the platforms. The platform where passengers wait is usually called il marciapiede or la banchina, depending on the context, but you won’t hear these terms all that often.
Here are some announcements you can expect to hear at the train station:
- Il treno per Milano Centrale è in partenza dal binario 5. = The train to Milan Centrale is departing from platform 5.
- Il treno ad alta velocità Frecciarossa proveniente da Napoli Centrale è in arrivo al binario 1. = The high-speed Frecciarossa train from Naples Centrale is arriving at platform 1.
- Attenzione: il treno per Roma è ora in partenza dal binario 7. = Attention: the train to Rome is now departing from platform 7.
In all these cases, binario – meaning track – has been used where we would say platform.
Il treno regionale per Firenze partirà dal binario 2.
The regional train to Florence will depart from platform 2.
Here are a few other railway terms you might encounter:
- binario morto = dead-end track
- binario unico = single track
- binario doppio = double track
Moving away from train vocabulary, binario can also be translated as binary, as in the terms verso binario (binary form), sistema binario (binary system), codice binario (binary code), and non binario (non-binary).
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.
