The Italian word pasticcio is best translated as mess or muddle in English, and as you have probably guessed, it is used to describe a situation or piece of work that is chaotic, disorganised or poorly executed. It is a masculine noun, so it takes the following definite and indefinite articles: Although the origin of …
Both the English caramel and the Italian caramella derive from the Spanish caramelo, which in turn can be traced back to the Latin calamellus, the diminutive of calamus (sugarcane). Caramel and caramella can be considered false friends, however, in that the Italian word refers to any piece of candy or sweet made of sugar, whereas …
In Italy, in addition to the three main meals – colazione (breakfast), pranzo (lunch) and cena (dinner) – there is a fourth that occurs between lunch and dinner called merenda. Like most words in Italian, merenda derives from the late Latin merere (to deserve), and literally means “things you have to deserve”. /me·rèn·da/ Merenda is …
Today we have a phrase that was requested by one of our pasta-loving readers! Mi piace la pasta! I like pasta! If you want to say “I like [X]” in Italian, you need to memorise the expression “mi piace [X]“. Before we take a closer look at this phrase, it is important to point out …
A survey carried out by YouGov in 2019 discovered that over 80 percent of people in the world count Italian food among their favourites, followed by Chinese and Japanese. Indeed, I’ve yet to meet a single person who doesn’t rank pizza and pasta highly on their list of go-to foods! If you are wondering how …
Cooking dinner is one of the most labour-intensive chores of the day, especially when you’re tired and your children insist on performing acrobatics between your legs as you try to juggle the pots and pans on the stove. (And yes, I am talking from experience!) This is why many of us resort to take-away food, …